tecni"-,--,,  ■"'■, 

Ill'':-' 


,JpEgS*,.^^ 


dfigfisMt 


'■'■■;:■-':  I'        'M 


THE  GREATER  ABBEYS  OF  ENGLAND 


WHSl MINSTKK    ABBEY  :     NAVE    AND    CHOIR    FROM    THE    WEST 


•THE 
GREATER  ABBEYS 
OF  ENGLAND' 


BY 


ABBOT  GASQUET 

WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  IN  COLOUR  AFTER 
WARWICK  GOBLE 


NEW  YORK 
DODD,  MEAD  AND  COMPANY 

1908 


Copyright,  1908 
By  DODD,  mead  &  COMPANY 

Published  October,  igo8 


®0  tl|0  l&mhn 


^^^^^HE  Abbeys  of  England,  ruined,  dismantled 
m  C|  and  time-worn,  are  fitting  memorials  of  a  great 
^^^^^  past.  From  any  point  of  view  and  whatever 
our  opinion  about  the  utility  or  purpose  of 
monastic  life  In  general  and  about  English  monastic  life 
in  particular,  we  are  constrained  to  confess  that  the  monks 
of  old,  who  built  up  these  "  Cliffs  of  Walls "  and  orna- 
mented them  with  all  the  wealth  of  carving,  panelling 
and  moulding  still  to  be  traced  amid  the  moss-grown 
ruins,  have  left,  scattered  over  the  whole  face  of  their 
country,  monuments  of  their  great  work  and  stone  records 
of  their  existence  In  the  land  from  the  earliest  period  of 
our  national  history. 

The  fascination  undoubtedly  exerted  over  the  mind 
of  most  people  by  these  memorials  of  a  past,  whether 
actually  In  ruins  or  partially  saved  from  the  general 
wreck  of  the  sixteenth  century,  may  be  taken  to  dis- 
pense with  any  apology  for  the  existence  of  such  a  book 
as  this.  Those  who  go  to  visit  what  may  be  described, 
without  exaggeration,  as  the  most  attractive  spots  In 
this  land  of  many  Interests,  old  and  new,  naturally  desire 
to  possess  some  knowledge  of  the  past  history  of  these 
desecrated  sanctuaries  and  to  have  some  lasting  memorial 
of  their  visit.  Both  the  one  and  the  other  need  may,  it 
is  hoped,  be  met  by  the  production  of  this  volume;  whilst 

[v] 


TO   THE   READER 

those  who  have  not  had  the  opportunity  of  visiting  per- 
sonally many  of  these  old  abbeys,  may  also  find  in  it 
some  attraction  to  the  story  of  these  great  monasteries 
which  were,  during  many  generations,  real  factors  in  the 
life  and  well-being  of  the  English  people. 

Although  this  book  with  its  artistic  illustrations  does 
not  appear  to  call  for  any  explanation  or  introduction  in 
the  ordinary  sense,  some  few  words  on  one  particular 
point  by  way  of  Preface  may,  perhaps,  be  useful  to  the 
general  reader.  The  spectacle  of  these  ivy-clad  and 
moss-grown  buildings,  roofless  and  weatherbeaten  by 
wellnigh  four  centuries  of  exposure  to  rain  and  frost, 
speaks  of  some  great,  some  dire  catastrophe.  They  lift 
to  heaven's  vault  their  broken  walls,  their  capless  pillars, 
their  fragments  of  arches,  like  gaunt  skeletons  upraising 
their  fleshless  arms  in  warning  or  in  protest.  Some  of 
them,  indeed,  are  vast  in  size  and,  though  ruined,  are  yet 
so  little  touched  by  the  hand  of  time  as  to  seem  still 
peopled  by  the  ghosts  of  the  men  who  built  them  centuries 
ago.  But  one  and  all  of  these  ruins  which  are  scattered 
all  over  the  face  of  England  appear  to  be  ever  asking  the 
question,  "Why?"  Why  this  wanton  destruction? 
What  wave  of  anger  or  madness  has  wrought  the  havoc? 
Why  have  these  beautiful  sanctuaries,  which  the  piety 
and  generosity  of  generations  of  Englishmen  raised  to  the 
honour  and  glory  of  God,  been  wrecked  and  cast  down 
into  the  dust? 

The  common  answer  to  the  riddle  of  these  ruins  would 
probably  be  that  this  complete  and  dire  destruction  came 

[vi] 


TO   THE   READER 

upon  the  religious  houses  in  the  days  of  Henry  VHI,  in 
popular  and  righteous  indignation  for  the  wicked  lives  of 
the  men  who  lived  in  them.  They  stand  as  a  memorial 
for  all  time  of  "  the  vicious  lives "  these  so-called  religious 
men  were  living  "  under  cover  of  their  cowls  and  hoods." 
This  is  a  common  and  ready  explanation  often  given, 
and  probably  repeated  in  every  ruin  throughout  the 
country,  to  account  for  the  great  catastrophe  which  over- 
whelmed the  religious  houses  and  has  left  these  ruins  as 
evidence  of  the  storm.  But  is  this  the  truth  or  anything 
like  the  truth? 

What  really  happened  to  bring  about  the  suppression 
of  the  English  monasteries  in  the  rapacious  days  of  Henry 
VIII  may  here  be  usefully  but  briefly  set  out.  The  in- 
ception of  the  idea  of  destroying  the  monasteries  may  cer- 
tainly be  credited  to  the  ingenious,  capable  and  all-power- 
ful minister  of  Henry  VIII,  Thomas  Crumwell.  He 
saw  in  the  monastic  property  a  gold  mine,  which,  with  a 
little  management,  could  be  worked  to  his  master's  great 
profit,  and  out  of  which  pickings  would  no  doubt  be  possi- 
ble for  himself  and  others.  It  was  necessary  to  prepare 
the  way:  to  the  acute  mind  of  Crumwell  it  was  obvious 
that  even  the  subservient  and  timorous  Parliament  of 
Henry  would  hardly  hand  over  the  private  property  of 
the  monks  and  nuns  without  having  some  good  reasons 
given  them  for  so  doing.  The  readiest  way  was  to 
blacken  the  character  of  those  they  wished  to  rob  and  so 
convince  the  Parliament  that  they  were  not  worth  pro- 
tecting. 

[vii] 


TO   THE   READER 

Thomas  Crumwell  was  Henry's  Vicar-General  in 
Spirituals,  and  acting  in  this  capacity  he  projected  a 
royal  visitation  of  all  religious  houses  in  the  autumn  of 
1535.  The  subordinates  chosen  by  the  Vicar-General  for 
the  work  were  worthy  instruments  of  their  master  and 
their  letters  prove  them  to  have  been  utterly  unscrupulous 
and  entirely  reckless  in  their  accusations.  At  the  same 
time  preachers  were  sent  over  the  country  to  prepare  the 
popular  mind  for  the  contemplated  seizure  of  monastic 
property.  These  emissaries  of  Crumwell  were  instructed 
to  orate  against  the  monks  as  "  hypocrites,  sorcerers  and 
idle  drones,"  etc. ;  to  tell  the  people  that  "  the  monks 
made  the  land  unprofitable  "  and  that  "  if  the  abbeys 
went  down,  the  King  would  never  want  for  any  taxes 
again." 

The  destruction  of  the  monasteries  consequently  was 
not  only  an  item  in  the  general  policy  of  Henry  and  his 
minister,  but  it  was  certainly  determined  upon  before  the 
Visitors  were  sent  on  their  rounds,  and  hence  was  quite 
independent  of  any  reports  they  sent  in. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  to  enter  here  into  the  details 
of  the  visitation.  The  work  was  done  so  rapidly  that  it 
was  quite  impossible  that  there  could  have  been  any 
serious  inquiry  into  the  moral  state  of  the  houses  visited. 
That  these  men  who  acted  for  Crumwell  in  this  matter 
suggested  in  their  letters  and  reports  all  manner  of  evil 
against  the  good  name  of  the  monasteries,  is  true,  and 
•     was  quite  what  was  to  be  expected. 

But  all  these  charges   rest  upon  the  word  of  these 

[  viii  ] 


TO   THE   READER 

Visitors  alone  and  from  what  is  known  of  the  character 
of  these  chosen  instruments  no  reliance  can  be  placed 
upon  them.  Upon  their  testimony,  it  has  been  said 
"  No  one  would  dream  of  hanging  a  dog."  For  the 
benefit  of  any  of  my  readers  who  may  be  inclined  to 
think  I  am  biassed  in  this  matter  I  here  set  down  what 
Dr.  Jessopp  has  to  say  about  Crumwell's  Visitors. 
*'When  the  Inquisitors  of  Henry  VHI  and  his  Vicar- 
General  Crumwell,"  he  writes,  "  went  on  their  tours  of 
visitation,  they  were  men  who  had  no  experience  of  the 
ordinary  forms  of  inquiry  which  had  hitherto  been  in 
use.  They  called  themselves  Visitors;  they  were,  in 
effect,  mere  hired  detectives  of  the  very  vilest  stamp,  who 
came  to  levy  blackmail,  and,  if  possible,  to  find  some 
excuse  for  their  robberies  by  vilifying  their  victims.  In 
all  the  comperta  which  have  come  down  to  us  there  is  not, 
if  I  remember  rightly,  a  single  instance  of  any  report  or 
complaint  having  been  made  to  the  Visitors  from  anyone 
outside.  The  enormities  set  down  against  the  poor 
people  accused  of  them,  are  said  to  have  been  confessed 
by  themselves  against  themselves.  In  other  words,  the 
comperta  of  1535-6  can  only  be  received  as  the  horrible 
inventions  of  the  miserable  men  who  wrote  them  down 
upon  their  papers,  well  knowing  that,  as  in  no  case  could 
the  charges  be  supported,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  in  no  case 
could  they  be  met,  nor  were  the  accused  ever  intended  to 
be  put  upon  their  trial." 

That  these  reports  were  bad  enough  may  be  admitted, 
although  even  they  by  no  means  bear  out  the  charges  of 

[ix] 


TO   THE    READER 

wholesale  corruption.  It  is  usually  asserted  that  it  was 
upon  the  evidence  of  the  reports,  whatever  their  worth, 
that  Parliament  condemned  the  monasteries  to  destruc- 
tion. It  is,  however,  quite  impossible  that  either  the  re- 
ports, or  any  precis  of  them,  could  have  been  submitted 
to  the  Commons,  or  any  "  Black  Book  "  placed  upon  the 
table  of  the  House  at  Westminster  as  so  many  modern 
authors  would  have  us  believe.  One  fact  alone  proves 
this.  The  Visitors  inspected  and  reported  upon  all  reli- 
gious houses,  great  and  small,  and  all  are  equally  be- 
smirched in  their  letters  and  reports.  Consequently,  if 
the  actual  documents  had  been  presented  to  Parliament, 
it  would  have  been  impossible,  in  the  preamble  of  the 
Act  which  was  passed  suppressing  the  lesser  houses,  to 
thank  God  that  the  others — "  the  great  and  solemn  abbeys 
of  the  realm  " — were  in  a  wholesome  and  excellent  state. 

The  truth  about  the  matter  is  that,  as  the  Act  itself 
states,  the  Commons  passed  the  Bill  of  Suppression  on 
the  strength  of  the  King's  declaration  that  he  knew  the 
facts  to  be  as  had  been  stated  to  them.  It  was  for  this 
reason  alone  they  agreed  to  suppress  them  and  by  the 
King's  desire  drew  the  line  of  moral  delinquency  at  £200 
a  year.  The  more  the  whole  story  is  studied,  the  clearer 
it  becomes  that  from  first  to  last  it  was  a  question  of 
money.  Crumwell  knew  that  he  could  not  get  the  whole 
plum  at  once,  affd  so  prudently  he  advised  his  master  to 
content  himself  at  first  with  the  smaller  portion,  which 
he  tried  to  make  men  believe  was  rotten,  whilst  the  rest 
was  in  an  excellent  and  healthy  state. 

'1 


TO   THE   READER 

The  £200  a  year  standard  of  "  good  living  "  set  by  the 
Act,  made  it  immediately  necessary  to  ascertain  which 
houses  fell  within  the  limit  and  had  been  handed  by 
Parliament  to  the  King  to  be  dealt  with  according  to  his 
"  good  pleasure,  to  the  honour  of  God  and  the  wealth 
of  the  realm."  Commissioners  were  appointed  for  the 
purpose  of  determining  the  fate  of  the  various  houses. 
They  included  some  of  the  country  gentry  and  other  "  dis- 
creet persons  "  of  the  neighbourhood,  men  who  knew  the 
locality  and  the  members  of  the  religious  houses.  Curi- 
ously enough,  the  reports  sent  in  by  these  men  almost 
always  contradict  the  accounts  of  Crumwell's  inquisitors. 
This  is  not  the  case  only  with  one  house  or  district,  but  as 
Dr.  James  Gairdner  remarks,  in  these  reports  when  we 
have  them,  "  the  characters  given  of  the  inmates  are  al- 
most uniformly  good." 

The  dissolution  of  the  lesser  monasteries  by  virtue  of 
the  Act  of  1536  accounts  for  some  of  the  English  monastic 
ruins.  So  anxious  were  the  royal  officials  to  make  the 
most  of  the  property  that  had  come  into  their  possession 
that  they  did  not  hesitate  to  cast  down  the  timber  of  the 
roof  and  break  up  the  carved  stall  work  or  screen  for  fuel 
to  melt  the  lead  into  pigs.  Many  a  fine  church  might 
have  been  saved  to  posterity,  had  the  royal  wreckers  not 
been  in  such  a  hurry  to  realise  all  that  could  be  got  from 
the  general  wreck  and  to  gather  in  what  were  called  at 
the  time  the  "  Robinhood  pennyworths  "  for  themselves. 

The  first  Act  of  Dissolution,  strange  as  the  assertion 
may  seem,  was  in  fact  the  only  one.    The  rest  of  the 

[xi] 


TO   THE   READER 

abbeys  were  not  legally  suppressed.  They  came  into 
Henry's  hands  by  the  attainder  of  abbots,  as  in  the  case  of 
Woburn  and  Glastonbury,  etc.,  or,  as  was  generally  the 
case,  by  the  free,  though  coerced,  surrender  of  the  house 
into  the  royal  power.  Then,  when  all  was  over  and  the 
greater  number  of  the  monasteries  and  their  possessions 
were  already  in  the  King's  power.  Parliament  passed  an 
Act  giving  Henry  all  he  had  got  by  force,  or  by  his  new 
interpretation  of  the  law  of  attainder. 

The  process  of  gathering  in  the  spoils  in  the  case  of 
each  monastery  was  much  the  same  as  that  employed  in 
the  case  of  the  lesser  houses;  and  by  the  time  the  profes- 
sional wreckers  had  finished  their  work,  the  land  was  left 
covered  from  one  end  to  the  other  with  ruins.  Many  of 
these  have  gradually  perished  by  neglect  and  natural 
decay;  many  have  been  used  as  public  quarries  and  to  get 
stone  to  mend  roads,  or  build  cottages  and  pigsties.  Some 
have  survived,  melancholy  memories  of  the  past,  but  even 
in  their  desolation  still  among  the  finest  architectural 
examples  in  the  country. 


[xii] 


Qlcnt^ttte 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I   St.  Augustine's,  Canterbury i 

II   St.  Albans 12 

III  Battle  Abbey 28 

IV  Beaulieu 39 

V  BucKFAST  Abbey 49 

VI   Bury  St.  Edmund's 58 

VII   Crowland 79 

VIII   Evesham 89 

IX.  Furness  Abbey 98 

X  Fountains 112 

XI   Glastonbury 134 

XII   Gloucester 155 

XIII  Jervaulx 169 

XIV  St.  Mary's,  York 181 

XV  Milton 189 

XVI   Netley 197 

XVII   Pershore 210 

XVIII   Rievaulx 221 

XIX    RoMSEY 234 

XX   Sherborne 247 

XXI  Titchfield 258 

XXII   Tintern 269 

XXIII  Torre  Abbey 283 

XXIV  Thorney 292 

XXV   Whitby 300 

[  xiii  ] 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

XXVI     WOBURN .312 

XXVII    W^ALTHAM  Abbey 325 

XXVIII    Waverley 334 

XXIX   Westminster 345 

XXX  Welbeck 362 

XXXI    Whallky 370 


[xiv] 


3IUu0tratt0nH 


Westminster  Abbey;  Nave  and  Choir  from  the 

West Frontispiece 

Gateway,  St.  Augustine's  Abbey,  Canterbury    ....  3 

St.  Albans  Cathedral  from  Verulam  Hills     ....  13 

St.  Albans  Cathedral:  the  Norman  Tower      ....  21 

Gateway,  Battle  Abbey 29 

Beaulieu  Abbey:  Door  of  the  Abbey  Church     ....  41 

Beaulieu  :  THE  Abbot's  House 45 

The  Neighbourhood  OF  BucKFAST  Abbey 51 

Buckfast  Abbey 55 

Bury  St.  Edmund's:  the  Abbey  Gateway 61 

The  Abbot's  Bridge,  Bury  St.  Edmund's 67 

Crowland  Abbey 81 

The  Abbot's  Bridge,  Crowland 85 

Evesham  Abbey 91 

FuRNESs  Abbey loi 

The  Cloisters,  Furness  Abbey 107 

Fountains  Abbey:  the  "Surprise  View" 113 

Fountains  Abbey  from  the  South-east 117 

Fountains  Abbey:  the  Cloisters 123 

A  Bridge,  Fountains  Abbey 129 

Glastonbury  Abbey:  St.  Joseph's  Chapel 135 

Glastonbury  Abbey:  the  Abbot's  Kitchen  and  Glaston- 
bury Tor 141 

Glastonbury  Abbey:  Remains  of  the  Great  Tower  and 

Other  Buildings 147 

[XV] 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Gloucester  Cathedral  at  Sunset 153 

Gloucester  Cathedral:  the  Choir 157 

Gloucester  Cathedral  from  St.  Catherine's  Meadows     .  161 

Cloister  and  Lavatorium,  Gloucester  Cathedral       .      .  165 

Jervaulx  Abbey 171 

St,  Mary's  Abbey,  York 183 

Milton  Abbas 191 

Netley  Abbey:  the  East  Window 199 

Netley  Abbey:  the  Cloisters 203 

Netley  Abbey,  Looking  West 207 

Pershore  Abbey 211 

Rievaulx  Abbey:  Early  Morning 219 

RiEVAULX  Abbey  from  the  South-east 223 

Rievaulx  Abbey  from  the  Terrace 227 

Rievaulx:  Church  and  Refectory 231 

Rievaulx  Abbey  from  the  South 235 

Romsey  Abbey 239 

RoMSEY  Abbey:  the  Nuns'  Doorway 243 

Sherborne  Abbey  from  the  South-east 249 

Sherborne  Abbey:  Choir  and  East  Window 253 

TiTCHFiELD  Abbey 259 

TiNTERN  Abbey  and  the  Wye 271 

TiNTERN  Abbey  from  the  South-east 275 

Tintern  Abbey:  Interior 279 

Torre  Abbey 285 

Thorney  Abbey 293 

Whitby  Abbey  and  Town 301 

Whitby  Abbey  from  the  South-west 307 

WoBURN  Abbey 313 

The  Abbot's  Oak,  Woburn 319 

[xvi] 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Waltham  Abbey 327 

Waverley  Abbey 335 

Westminster  Abbey  from  the  South-east 347 

Westminster  Abbey:  the  South  Ambulatory     ....  353 

Entrance  to  Henry  VII's  Chapel^  Westminster  Abbey     .  357 

Welbeck  Abbey 363 

Whalley  Abbey:  the  Abbot's  House 371 


[xvii  ] 


ST.    AUGUSTINE'S,    CANTERBURY 

VERY  little  remains  to  mark  the  place  where 
once  stood  the  first  monastic  establishment 
made  on  the  conversion  of  the  Anglo-Saxons 
to  Christianity.  Of  the  church  only  a  few 
broken  bits  of  late  Roman  work,  with,  to  the  south,  some 
ruins  of  the  Chapel  of  St.  Pancras  with  its  tomb  and  an- 
cient altar,  survive  to  tell  the  tale  of  wanton  destruction. 
Even  the  tower  of  St.  Ethelbert,  which  was  built  at  the 
west  end  of  the  church  in  1047,  and  probably  was  so 
termed  because  it  held  the  great  bell  called  by  that  name, 
was  pulled  down  only  in  the  last  century.  Of  the  mon- 
astery, besides  the  entrance  gate  built  by  Abbot  Fyndon 
in  1300,  the  cemetery  gate  and  the  present  college  refec- 
tory are  all  that  are  left  of  the  extensive  buildings,  which 
had  a  frontage  of  some  250  feet  and  the  enclosure  wall 
of  which  shut  in  sixteen  acres.  The  present  college  re- 
fectory was  the  monastic  guest  hall,  and  its  open  roof 
remains  unchanged  to  the  present  day.  The  wreckers 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  neglect  of  succeeding  gen- 
erations and  the  active  spoliation  of  those  who  sought 
stones   for  building  or  for  mending  the   roads   in   the 

[I] 


'•'    •  THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

neighbourhood,  have  done  their  work  of  destruction  only 
too  well. 

The  story  of  the  abbey  of  St.  Augustine's  is,  on  the 
whole,  uneventful,  although  not  uninteresting.  Canter- 
bury became  the  earliest  centre  of  Anglo-Saxon  Chris- 
tianity and  civilisation,  and  the  abbey  was  apparently 
the  first  foundation  made  by  the  newly-converted  King 
Ethelbert,  and  St.  Augustine,  the  apostle  of  our  race,  for 
the  firm  establishment  of  the  religious  life  according  to 
the  rule  of  St.  Benedict,  and  in  order  to  serve  as  the  seat 
of  learning  in  the  newly-Christianised  kingdom.  Ethel- 
bert was  baptized  in  the  year  597,  probably  in  the  old 
church  of  St.  Martin,  used  by  Queen  Bertha  for  Chris- 
tian worship  before  the  coming  of  Augustine.  This 
chapel  was  situated  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city  and  with- 
out its  walls,  whilst  near  at  hand,  apparently,  there  was 
a  temple  for  the  worship  of  the  Saxon  deities,  which  at 
the  request  of  Ethelbert,  St.  Augustine  dedicated  as  a 
Christian  church  under  the  patronage  of  St.  Pancras,  the 
boy  martyr  of  Rome.  The  spot  was  chosen  outside  the 
walls  in  order  that  it  might  form  the  burial  place  for 
kings  and  prelates,  since  by  Saxon  and  British  as  well  as 
by  Roman  law  "  burial  within  the  city  walls "  was  pro- 
hibited. In  this  case  the  dedication  to  the  boy  St.  Pan- 
cras was  probably  suggested  by  the  memory  of  the  Saxon 
youths  of  the  Roman  forum  who,  according  to  the  well- 
known  story,  induced  Pope  St.  Gregory  the  Great  to 
think  of  the  conversion  of  England.  In  the  first  instance 
then,  it  would  appear  that  the  situation  of  St.  Augustine's 

[2] 


GATEWAY,    ST.    AUGUSTINE  S    ABBEY,    CANTERBURY 


ST.   AUGUSTINE'S,    CANTERBURY 

Abbey  was  chosen  as  the  place  of  burial  for  kings,  pre- 
lates and  others.  It  was  on  the  road  to  Rutupiae,  the 
port  of  embarkation  for  Gaul,  now  Richborough,  from 
Ethelbert's  capital,  and  it  has  been  suggested  that  it  was 
intended  to  make  an  English  Appian  Way. 

In  a  very  few  years  Ethelbert  determined  to  establish 
in  the  same  place  a  monastery  under  the  patronage  of 
SS.  Peter  and  Paul.  This  was  in  605,  but  in  613  the 
church  was  dedicated  to  St.  Laurence,  and  the  body  of 
St.  Augustine  was  transported  hither  and  buried  in  the 
porch.  From  this  time  the  renown  of  the  place  increased 
since  it  became  known  as  the  burial  place  of  the  illus- 
trious dead;  and  almost  from  the  first  the  monastery 
became  known  as  St.  Augustine's  Abbey.  Its  early 
greatness  was  undoubtedly  due  to  the  fame  of  those  who 
were  buried  in  the  church,  and  until  the  death  of  Arch- 
bishop Cuthbert  in  758,  all  the  Archbishops  of  Can- 
terbury had  their  last  resting-places  at  St.  Augustine's, 
which  was  known  as  the  Mater  primaria,  the  "  first 
mother  "  of  all  such  English  institutions.  Indeed,  long 
after  it  had  ceased  to  hold  its  pre-eminence  as  a  place  of 
sepulture,  popes  speak  of  it  as  "  the  firstborn,"  the  "  first 
and  chief  mother  of  monasteries  in  England,"  and  as  "  the 
Roman  chapel  in  England,"  whilst  the  archbishops  are 
warned  if  they  visit  it,  not  to  do  so  as  its  prelate  or  with 
authority,  but  as  the  brother  of  the  monks.  ^  Whilst  the 
abbot  of  St.  Albans  had  the  papal  grant  permitting  him 
to  sit  first  in  all  English  meetings  of  the  Benedictine 
Order,  the  abbot  of  St.  Augustine's  was  privileged  by 

[5] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

Pope  Leo  IX  to  sit  among  the  Benedictine  prelates  in 
general  councils  next  to  the  abbot  of  Monte  Cassino. 

As  I  have  said,  it  was  undoubtedly  the  presence  of  the 
illustrious  and  sainted  dead  which  gave  such  renown  to 
the  abbey,  and  in  particular  it  was  the  shrine  of  St.  Au- 
gustine which  attracted  crowds  of  pilgrims  to  the  church 
from  the  earliest  times  of  English  Christianity  until  the 
martyrdom  of  St.  Thomas  in  the  neighbouring  church 
diverted  the  stream  of  devotion  to  the  cathedral.  Indeed 
the  list  of  the  dead  who  slept  the  sleep  of  the  just  at  St. 
Augustine's  is  most  remarkable  and  makes  us  all  the  more 
regret  that  in  the  sixteenth  century  no  greater  respect 
was  paid  to  the  tombs  and  remains  of  kings  and  queens 
than  to  the  relics  of  the  saints.  Here  are  the  names  of 
some  few  whose  tombs  were  then  ruthlessly  destroyed 
and  their  remains  scattered  to  the  winds:  King  Ethel- 
bert  and  his  Queen  Bertha,  who,  together  with  Letard, 
Bishop  of  Soissons  and  chaplain  of  the  Queen,  rested  in 
the  portico  of  St.  Martin's;  the  bodies  of  King  Eadbald 
and  Emma  his  Queen  were  in  the  porch  at  St.  Catherine's, 
where  also  were  the  tombs  of  King  Ercombert  and  Lo- 
thaire  with  the  latter's  daughter  Mildred,  and  two  other 
kings;  Archbishops  Augustine,  Laurence,  Mellitus,  Jus- 
tus, Honorius  and  Deusdedit  were  in  the  porch  of  the 
church;  Archbishops  Theodore,  Brithwald,  Tatwin  and 
Nothelm  in  the  church  itself. 

The  centre  of  devotion  at  St.  Augustine's  was,  as  I 
have  said,  naturally  the  shrine  of  St.  Augustine  himself, 
the  apostle  of  our  race.    A  picture  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 

[6] 


ST.   AUGUSTINE'S,    CANTERBURY 

tury,  copied  in  Dugdale's  Monasticon  from  a  manu- 
script in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  shows  roughly  the 
disposition  of  the  altar  at  St.  Augustine's,  with  the  bodies 
of  saints  and  other  relics  surrounding  it.  Two  doors^ 
one  on  either  side  of  the  Great  Altar,  led  into  the  feretory 
where  most  of  the  relics  were  placed.  At  the  most  east- 
ernly  end  over  an  altar  dedicated  to  the  Holy  Trinity  in 
1240  rested  the  shrine  containing  the  body  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, and  on  the  right  of  this  were  three  other  shrines 
with  the  bodies  of  St.  Laurence,  St.  Justus  and  St. 
Deusdedit,  whilst  on  the  left  were  similarly  disposed 
those  of  St.  Mellitus,  St.  Honorius  and  St.  Theodore. 
Two  semicircular  chapels,  one  on  either  side,  contained 
on  the  right  the  body  of  St.  Mildred  with  an  altar  dedi- 
cated in  1270,  and  on  the  left  an  altar  to  SS.  Stephen, 
Laurence  and  Vincent,  with  the  shrine  containing  the 
relics  of  St.  Adrian  the  Abbot,  and  companion  of  St. 
Theodore.  In  the  space  between  these  chapels  and  the 
back  of  the  High  Altar  were  arranged  the  shrines  of  St. 
Nothelm  and  St.  Lombert  on  the  one  side,  and  those  of  St. 
Brithwald  and  St.  Tatwin  on  the  other. 

The  High  Altar  was  dedicated  in  A.  D.  1325  to  SS. 
Peter  and  Paul,  St.  Augustine,  the  apostle  of  the  English, 
and  St.  Ethelbert,  King.  Above  it  were  the  body  of  St. 
Letard  and  other  relics:  on  the  altar  rested  the  shrine  of 
St.  Ethelbert  and  on  either  side  were  the  precious  books 
which,  according  to  tradition.  Pope  St.  Gregory  had 
sent  over  to  England  by  St.  Augustine.  These  books 
were  appropriately  called  by  Elmham,   the  chronicler 

[7] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

of  the  abbey,  primitice  librorum  ecclesia  AnglicancE — the 
first  books  of  the  English  Church.  That  St.  Gregory 
the  Great  did  send  over  many  manuscripts  to  England 
by  St.  Augustine  or  his  followers  we  know  from  St. 
Bede,  whose  information  was  obtained  from  the  eighth 
Abbot  of  St.  Augustine's.  Although  no  doubt  many  of 
these  valuable  volumes  must  have  perished  in  the  fire 
which  partially  wrecked  the  abbey  in  1168,  Thorne,  in 
relating  the  catastrophe  in  his  chronicle,  is  satisfied  that 
his  monastery  still  possessed  at  least  some  of  these  pre- 
cious books,  a  tradition  which  was  handed  down  by  Le- 
land  on  the  eve  of  the  dissolution.  At  the  present  day  it 
is  believed  by  many  that  the  Gospel  Book  in  Corpus 
Christi  College,  Cambridge,  and  the  celebrated  Psalter, 
Vespasian  A.  I.,  in  the  British  Musuem,  are  two  of  the 
volumes  originally  placed  over  the  altar  in  St.  Augus- 
tine's abbey  church  as  being  among  the  "  Gregorian 
books "  sent  by  the  Pope  to  England  on  its  conversion  to 
the  Faith.  Others,  it  is  right  to  add,  consider  that  they 
are  only  copies  of  these  volumes. 

I  have  said  that  the  long  history  of  this  Benedictine 
abbey  was,  on  the  whole,  uneventful.  This  may  be  taken 
to  mean  that  there  were  few  incidents  to  interfere  with 
the  even  course  of  the  life  lived  in  the  cloister  and  devoted 
to  the  works  of  religion.  "  Happy  the  nation  that  has 
no  history  "  is,  perhaps,  more  true  of  a  religious  com- 
munity such  as  that  of  St.  Augustine's,  outside  the  walls 
of  Canterbury,  than  of  a  people.  It  had  its  difficulties, 
of  course,  and  there  was  at  times  considerable  friction 

[8] 


ST.   AUGUSTINE'S,    CANTERBURY 

with  the  archbishops  as  to  the  right  of  giving  the  abbatial 
blessing  and  of  demanding  an  oath  of  obedience.  Its 
Benedictine  brethren  in  the  neighbouring  Priory  of 
Christ  Church  were  not  always  on  the  best  of  terms  with 
it.  But  these  differences  did  not  last  long,  at  least  not 
long  in  the  whole  course  of  its  life,  and  from  the  facts 
as  they  are  stated  it  would  seem  that  in  all  these — shall 
we  call  them  contests? — St.  Augustine's  was  only  claim- 
ing and  clinging  to  its  rights  and  privileges,  as  every 
corporation  is  bound  to  do. 

John  Sturvey,  otherwise  known  as  John  Essex,  was  the 
last  abbot  of  St.  Augustine's,  and  in  July,  1583,  coerced 
by  Dr.  Layton  the  King's  Commissioner,  he  resigned  his 
office  and  the  property  of  the  abbey  into  the  King's 
hands.  It  has  commonly  been  thought  that  when  the  end 
came  a  dark  shadow  rested  over  the  good  name  of  the 
house.  In  the  later  centuries  that  preceded  its  destruc- 
tion St.  Augustine's  was  naturally  somewhat  overshad- 
owed by  its  great  monastic  neighbour  of  Christ  Church, 
which,  as  the  See  of  the  Metropolitan,  occupied  the  first 
place  in  the  Church  of  England.  The  monastery  was 
not  known  in  any  way  to  have  moved  with  the  times:  it 
had  no  particular  reputation  for  learning,  nor  special 
usefulness,  nor  work,  at  a  time  when  men's  minds  gener- 
ally were  being  stirred  by  the  revival  of  letters.  Besides 
this  negatively  bad  character,  positive  charges  of  the 
most  odious  kind  were  formulated  by  the  visitors  of 
Henry  against  the  last  abbot,  John  Essex,  and  some  at 
least  of  his  monks.    Probably  there  are  few  in  these  days 

[9] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

who  are  willing  to  believe  such  charges  made  by  such 
witnesses  without  some  evidence  other  that  the  word  of 
the  discredited  and  interested  royal  agents.  Luckily  in 
the  case  of  the  last  abbot  and  one  of  his  monks,  against 
whom  the  most  revolting  suggestions  had  been  made, 
we  have  the  assertion  of  one  who  knew  them  well  that 
they  were  men  of  upright  character  and  exceptional  cul- 
ture. The  conversation  in  which  this  testimony  is  givea 
is  supposed  to  have  taken  place  in  the  country  house  to 
which  John  Essex,  or  Vokes,  as  he  is  called,  the  last  abbot, 
had  retired,  and  the  other  two  taking  part  in  it  are  Joha 
Dygon,  the  last  prior  of  the  house,  and  Dr.  Nicholas 
Wotton,  who,  becoming  first  Dean  of  the  Cathedral  of 
Christ  Church  upon  the  expulsion  of  the  monks,  was 
considered  to  be  one  of  the  most  brilliant  men  of  his- 
time.  Though  the  conversation  was  imaginary,  John 
Twyne,  the  antiquary,  who  composed  it,  declares  that 
not  only  were  the  characters  capable  in  life  of  sustain- 
ing the  roles  he  set  them,  but  that  frequently  in  reality 
he  had  heard  similar  discussions  carried  on  between 
them.  He  adds,  and  this  is  much  to  the  point,  "  Above 
all  the  many  people  whom  I  have  ever  known  I  have 
especially  revered  two,  because  in  these  days  they  were 
above  all  others  remarkable  for  the  high  character  of 
their  moral  lives  and  for  their  excellent  knowlege  of  all 
antiquity.  These  were  John  Vokes  and  John  Dygon. 
The  first  was  the  most  worthy  abbot,  the  second  the  most 
upright  prior  of  the  ancient  monastery  of  St.  Augustine — 
and  the  abbot  was  a  hale  old  man  of  the  highest  personal 

[lo] 


ST.   AUGUSTINE'S,    CANTERBURY 

sanctity  of  life."  In  this  book,  therefore,  in  place  of  the 
abbot  being  a  man  given  up  to  odious  vice,  we  find  a 
cultured,  cultivated,  courteous  Christian  gentleman,  wor- 
thy, as  Nicholas  Wotton  declares,  "  of  all  reverence  and 
respect."  We  see  him  as  the  friend  of  every  kind  of 
learning  and  ready  to  encourage  it  in  others:  we  see  him 
as  an  antiquary,  to  whose  well-stored  mind  men  were 
only  too  willing  to  appeal  for  information:  one  who 
could  understand  what  a  loss  to  scholarship  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Canterbury  libraries  had  been,  and  one  who 
on  the  very  eve  of  the  destruction  of  his  house  was  in 
communication  with  learned  men  in  Rome  to  procure 
some  early  prints  of  the  classics  for  the  library  of  St. 
Augustine's  Abbey. 


t"] 


Qlljapt^r  Stun 

ST.   ALBANS 

ON  the  great  north  road,  the  Watling  Street 
of  Roman  times,  and  at  the  first  stage  out  of 
London,  as  it  was  accounted  in  pre-railway 
days,  stands  the  town  of  St.  Albans.  Tower- 
ing above  the  other  buildings  of  the  place  rise  what 
Ruskin  somewhere  calls  the  "great  cliff  walls"  of  the 
old  abbey  church.  Looked  at  from  any  point  of  view — 
from  the  poor  cress-grown  little  river  Ver,  or  from  the 
rising  ground  to  the  south,  or  from  the  crumbling  walls 
of  Roman  Verulam — this  great  church  stands  out  from 
the  rest  of  the  surroundings  as  an  object  not  easily  to  be 
forgotten.  In  some  ways  it  is  unlike  any  other  building 
in  England ;  the  long  straight  ridge  of  the  roof,  the  long- 
est of  any  English  church,  is  a  fitting  cresting  to  the 
cliffs  of  walls;  the  solid  and  almost  sternly  simple  charac- 
ter of  the  transepts,  especially  as  they  appeared  before 
the  hand  of  the  so-called  restorer  was  heavy  upon  them, 
are  fit  supports  for  the  low  square  central  tower  which 
crowns  the  vast  buildings  spreading  out  below  it.  From 
any  point  of  view  the  church  is  truly  stupendous!  But 
to  those  who  know  its  history  there  is  something  sad  and 
melancholy  about  the  solitary  pile,  as  it  stands  now  a 

[12] 


ST.   ALBANS 

silent  and  majestic  monument  of  what  St.  Albans  once 
was  in  the  days  of  its  glory.  Its  walls  once  looked  down 
upon  a  vast  assemblage  of  buildings  of  which  it  was  the 
centre;  towers  and  gables,  courtyards  and  cloister;  kitch- 
ens and  guest-houses,  stables  and  offices  stretched  out  far 
over  the  space  to  the  south  and  west,  a  veritable  town  of 
conventual  buildings.  All  these  have  vanished,  alas! 
and  to-day  there  remain  of  them  only  the  broken  and 
defaced  ruins  of  the  old  gatehouse;  even  the  glorious 
church  itself  was  saved,  in  the  rapacious  days  of  Henry 
VIII,  from  becoming  the  common  quarry  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood, by  the  timely  purchase  of  its  desecrated  walls 
for  £400  by  the  people  of  the  township. 

The  story  of  St.  Albans  goes  back  to  the  close  of  the 
eighth  century.  About  that  time  Offa,  king  of  the  Mer- 
cians, in  recognition  of  his  sins  and  in  particular  in  expia- 
tion for  the  murder  of  Ethelbert,  king  of  East  Anglia, 
vowed  to  build  a  monastery  for  a  hundred  monks.  He 
chose  the  spot  upon  which,  in  401,  St.  Lupus  of  Troyes 
had  erected  a  church  over  the  relics  of  St.  Alban,  the 
protomartyr  of  Britain,  who  had  suffered  death  in  A.  D. 
304,  during  the  Diocletian  persecution.  These  relics  were 
translated  by  Offa  to  his  new  foundation  in  793,  and  in 
this  way  was  begun  the  great  Benedictine  house  of  St. 
Albans,  which  from  the  first  was  enriched  by  the  gifts 
of  the  English  kings  and  by  spiritual  privileges  accorded 
by  Pope  Adrian  I  and  his  successors.  In  the  year  930 
the  Abbey  was  attacked  by  the  Danes  and  plundered. 
The  relics  of  its  patron,  St.  Alban,  were  carried  off  to 

[IS] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

Denmark;  but  subsequently,  through  a  clever  ruse  of 
the  sacristan  of  the  abbey,  who  was  inconsolable  for  the 
loss,  they  were  recovered  by  the  monks,  and  "  Master 
John  of  St.  Albans,  the  incomparable  Goldsmith,"  as  the 
chonicler  calls  him,  "  made  the  first  shrine  for  the 
relics." 

The  mention  of  the  shrine  suggests  some  brief  account 
of  the  subsequent  history  of  this  work  of  art.  The  be- 
ginning of  the  twelfth  century  was  a  time  most  remark- 
able at  St.  Albans  for  the  perfection  of  its  metal  work. 
A  renowned  goldsmith,  by  name  Anketil,  who  had  been 
one  of  the  chief  artificers  in  precious  metals  at  the  Court 
of  Denmark  and  the  designer  of  the  coins  of  that  king- 
dom, returned  to  England  and  became  a  monk  of  St. 
Albans.  Geoffrey,  the  sixteenth  abbot  of  the  monastery, 
who  ruled  the  house  from  A.  D.  1119  to  1146,  was  not 
slow  to  recognise  the  importance  of  making  use  of  his 
exceptional  talents  in  restoring  the  shrine  for  the  relics  of 
the  patron  Saint.  Leofric,  the  tenth  abbot,  during  a 
famine,  had  sold  the  treasures  of  the  church  to  feed  the 
poor,  "  retaining  only  certain  precious  gems  for  which 
he  could  find  no  purchaser,  and  some  most  wonderfully 
carved  stones,  commonly  called  cameos,  the  greater  part 
of  which  were  reserved  to  ornament  the  shrine  when  it 
should  be  made."  So  in  1 124  the  great  work  was  begun. 
And,  says  the  chronicler,  "  it  happened  that  by  the  la- 
bour of  Dom  Anketil  the  work  prospered  and  grew  so 
as  to  claim  the  admiration  of  all  who  saw  it."  The  chief 
part  of  the  shrine  proper  was  apparently  what  would 

[16] 


ST.   ALBANS 

to-day  be  called  repousse  work,  and  the  figures  that  the 
goldsmith  monk  hammered  out  in  the  golden  plates  were 
made  solid  by  cement  poured  into  the  hollows  at  the  back. 

Here,  for  a  time,  the  work  was  delayed,  and  the  metal 
cresting  which  had  been  designed  to  crown  the  whole 
was  left  till  more  prosperous  times.  But  to  enrich  the 
work  somewhat  more,  if  possible,  the  antiques  called 
sardios  oniclios,  which,  as  the  chronicle  says,  are  "  vul- 
garly cameos,"  were  brought  out  of  the  treasury  and  fit- 
ted into  the  gold  work.  To  this  resting  place  the  relics 
of  the  Saint  were  translated  on  August  2,  1129,  Not 
long  after,  however,  the  poor  of  the  neighbourhood  were 
again  afflicted  with  great  scarcity,  and  the  abbot  to  re- 
lieve their  necessities  had  to  strip  away  from  the  shrine 
much  of  the  gold-worked  plates  and  turn  the  precious 
metal  into  money.  After  a  few  succeeding  years  of  pros- 
perity, however,  Abbott  Geoffrey  was  again  enabled  to 
restore  "  the  shrine  with  silver  and  gold  and  gems  more 
precious  than  before." 

The  same  abbot  employed  Dom  Anketil,  the  metal- 
working  artist,  to  fashion  a  wonderful  chalice  and  paten 
of  gold  as  a  present  to  Pope  Celestine.  The  account  we 
have  also  of  the  wonderful  vestments  with  which  he  en- 
riched the  Sacristy  proves  that  this  first  half  of  the 
twelfth  century  was  an  age  of  great  artistic  work  at  St. 
Albans.  We  read  of  copes,  for  instance,  in  sets  of  sevens 
and  fours,  of  chasubles  and  dalmatics,  of  worked  albs 
and  of  dorsals,  all  thickly  woven  with  gold  and  studded 
with  jewels.    So  rich,  indeed,  were  they  that,  alas!  they 

['7] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

tempted  Abbot  Geoffrey's  successor  in  a  time  of  strait- 
ness  by  the  wealth  of  their  material,  and  they  were  burnt 
to  ashes  to  recover  the  metal  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
the  golden  cloth,  or  laid  as  more  solid  ornaments  on  to 
the  finished  material. 

In  speaking  of  the  "  shrine "  of  St.  Albans  we  have 
been  carried  somewhat  too  quickly  over  the  general  story 
of  the  abbey.  As  in  the  case  of  most  of  the  other  Saxon 
houses,  St.  Albans  suffered  by  the  coming  of  the  Norman 
Conqueror.  Abbot  Frederick,  who  was  a  relation  of 
King  Canute,  began  his  rule  only  in  1066,  the  year  of 
the  battle  of  Hastings.  His  sympathies  were  with  his 
countrymen,  and  in  order  to  impede  William's  march  to 
Berkhampstede,  he  caused  the  trees  which  grew  along 
the  roadside  to  be  felled  across  it.  At  Berkhampstede, 
too,  he  obtained  from  the  Conqueror  the  promise  to  re- 
spect the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  and  in  particular  those 
of  Edward  the  Confessor.  Then,  fearing  the  King's 
vengeance,  he  fled  to  Ely,  where  in  a  brief  time  he 
died. 

Frederick's  death  opened  the  way  to  the  appointment 
of  a  Norman  Superior,  and  after  keeping  the  abbatial 
office  vacant  for  a  time,  William  appointed  Paul,  a 
monk  of  Caen  and  a  nephew  of  Archbishop  Lanfranc,  to 
the  office.  Here,  for  a  time,  as  in  other  places,  the 
English  monks  had  to  submit  to  foreign  customs  and  to 
witness  the  neglect  of  the  cultus  of  the  old  Saxon  saints, 
and  the  introduction  of  that  to  which  their  conquerors 
had  been  accustomed.    Thus  the  Bee  customal  was  en- 

[18] 


ST.   ALBANS 

forced  at  St.  Albans,  and  the  gift  of  eight  psalters  to  the 
choir  by  Abbot  Paul  in  1085  seems  to  suggest  that  the 
old  version  of  the  psalms  used  in  England  was  at  this 
time  changed  from  the  French  or  "  Gallican  "  recension. 

This  Abbot  Paul,  however,  began  the  erection  of  the 
great  church,  portions  of  which  still  remain  as  his  last- 
ing monument,  and  which  recall  the  similar  and  con- 
temporary building  in  his  native  city  of  Caen.  The  six 
easterns  bays  on  the  north,  together  with  some  of  the 
outer  walling  work,  are  mere  remnants  of  this  early 
building.  Abbot  Paul  did  not  live  to  see  the  completion 
of  his  great  work,  but  died  in  1097,  and  it  was  not  until 
1 1 15  that  the  church  of  St.  Albans  was  consecrated  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Rouen  in  the  presence  of  King  Henry 
I,  his  queen  and  the  principal  nobles  and  ecclesiastics 
of  the  kingdom.  On  this  occasion  300  poor  people  were 
entertained  in  the  court  of  the  monastery. 

In  1 1 19  Geoffrey  de  Gorham  became  abbot,  and  the 
story  of  his  connexion  with  the  abbey  is  curious  and  in- 
teresting. He  had  come  originally  as  a  layman  from- 
Maine  at  the  invitation  of  the  abbot  to  teach  in  the  St. 
Albans  school.  Something  delayed  his  journey,  and  on: 
reaching  the  place  he,  finding  the  position  already  oc- 
cupied, went  on  to  Dunstable  to  lecture  until  such  time 
as  there  was  a  vacancy  at  St.  Albans.  Whilst  there  he 
wrote  a  miracle  play  of  St.  Katherine  for  the  perform- 
ance of  which  he  borrowed  the  abbey  choral  copes.  The 
night  after  the  representation,  his  house,  where  the  vest- 
ments were,  was  burned  down  and  the  copes  were  all 

[19] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

destroyed  in  the  flames.  In  atonement  he  offered  him- 
self as  a  monk  at  St.  Albans,  and  he  was  subsequently 
chosen  as  abbot.  It  was  because  he  was  mindful  of  the 
misfortune  to  the  copes  that  in  after  years,  as  Matthew 
Paris  notes,  he  was  careful  to  provide  rich  choir  copes 
for  use  in  his  church. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  follow  the  history  of  the 
abbey  in  detail,  and  a  very  brief  summary  alone  can  be 
given.  Of  the  church  as  it  stands  a  few  words  only  may 
be  allowed.  As  I  have  said,  the  six  eastern  bays  on  the 
north  side  are  Norman,  the  rest  date  from  1214-35.  On 
the  south  side  the  five  western  bays  are  of  the  same  date, 
the  rest  was  begun  by  Abbot  Eversdon  in  decorated  work 
about  1323  and  raised  by  1326  to  the  triforium.  This 
building  was  necessitated  by  the  collapse  of  a  great  por- 
tion of  the  church,  and  the  fall  of  many  of  the  pillars 
during  the  singing  of  Mass  in  the  first-named  year.  Its 
reparation  was  continued  by  Abbot  Mentmore,  the  suc- 
cessor of  Richard  de  Wallingford,  known  to  posterity 
for  the  construction  of  a  celebrated  astronomical  clock, 
representations  of  which  are  to  be  found  in  some  of  the 
St.  Albans  books  in  the  British  Museum. 

Michael  de  Mentmore  constructed  the  ceiling  of  the 
south  aisle  of  the  church,  which  had  been  newly  built, 
together  with  the  cloister.  He  also  furnished  the  con- 
vent with  books  and  vestments.  In  1341  he  was  called 
upon  to  baptize  Edmund,  the  fifth  son  of  King  Edward 
III.  He  died  in  1349,  the  year  of  the  great  pestilence, 
or  Black  Death  as  it  is  now  called;  and  with  him  at  that 

[20] 


ST.   ALBANS 

calamitous  time  died  the  prior,  sub-prior  and  forty-seven 
of  the  brethren  of  St.  Albans. 

The  original  rood  screen  erected  in  1360  has  on  either 
side  of  the  rood-altar  a  door  which  opened  into  a  choir 
entry,  a  passage  being  left  between  the  stalls  and  the 
screen.  The  choir  projected  three  bays  into  the  nave, 
and  the  presbytery  had  three  bays  in  length.  The  great 
reredos,  built  at  a  cost  of  1,100  marks  by  Abbot  Walling- 
ford  (1476-94),  has  two  doors  opening  into  the  feretory 
for  processional  and  other  liturgical  purposes.  The 
story  goes  that  the  screen  was  suggested  by  that  of  Win- 
chester, returning  from  the  dedication  of  which  the  St. 
Albans  monks  with  their  abbot  determined  to  erect  one 
somewhat  similar.  The  staircase  to  the  monks'  dor- 
mitory is  in  the  southwest  angle  of  the  southwest  tran- 
sept; at  the  level  of  the  cloister- roof  it  communicated 
with  a  passage  leading  to  a  watching-loft,  still  remain- 
ing in  the  west  wall.  It  was  opposite  to  this  that  once 
stood  the  great  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  before 
which,  as  the  chronicle  tells  us,  stood  a  taper  wreathed 
with  flowers. 

In  the  feretory  may  still  be  seen  a  watching  chamber 
or  loft  erected  in  1430,  and  the  mutilated  remains  of  the 
base  of  St.  Albans  shrine  in  Purbeck  marble  with  qua- 
trefoiled  apertures,  below  canopied  niches  for  figures. 
It  is  of  fourteenth-century  work,  and  is  carved  with  the 
crucifix,  with  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  St.  John,  and  with 
the  acts  of  the  Saint.  Upon  this  base  stood  the  wonder- 
ful shrine  in  precious  metal  and  its  almost  equally  won- 

[23] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

derful  cover.  This  last  was  made  by  "  that  most  renowned 
artificer,"  and  he  is  called,  "  Master  John  the  Gold- 
smith." "  In  a  few  years,"  writes  the  chronicler,  "  this 
laborious,  sumptuous,  and  most  artistic  work  was  hap- 
pily accomplished;  and  he  (i.  e..  Abbot  Simon)  placed 
it  in  its  present  elevated  position  that  is  above  the  High 
Altar  facing  the  celebrant,  so  that  every  priest  offering 
Mass  upon  the  altar  may  have  both  in  sight  and  in  heart 
the  memory  of  the  martyr,  since  visible  to  the  eye  of  the 
celebrant  was  represented  the  martyrdom  or  decapita- 
tion." On  the  western  end  of  the  shrine,  in  well-raised 
metal  work  and  surrounded  by  gems  and  precious 
golden  knobs,  the  artist  enthroned  an  image  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  holding  her  Son  to  her  breast  and  seated 
on  her  throne.  Above  this  structure  again  rose  the  roof 
of  this  feretory,  and  at  its  four  angles  were  placed 
"windowed  turrets"  surrounded  with  what  the  writer 
calls  "  four  lovely  crystal  domes  with  their  marvels." 
Under  this  was  the  precious  shrine  itself  which  had  been 
enriched  by  a  succession  of  abbots  with  the  most  pre- 
cious jewels.  On  the  top  of  the  cresting  sat  an  eagle  in 
silver  gilt  with  its  wings  outspread,  which  Abbot  de  la 
Mare  had  made  in  the  fourteenth  century  at  the  cost  of 
£20 — some  £400  of  our  money.  Besides  this  golden 
eagle  fixed  on  the  cresting  of  the  shrine  were  "  two  suns  " 
of  pure  gold,  the  long  rays  of  which  were  of  silver  gilt 
and  on  the  tip  of  each  was  set  some  precious  stone. 

Lastly  Abbot  Whethamstede  in  the  fifteenth  century 
presented  to  the  altar  of  the  Saint,  which  stood  at  the 

[24] 


ST.   ALBANS 

western  end  of  the  shrine,  a  tabula  in  solid  silver.  It  was 
apparently  a  wonderful  example  of  English  goldsmith 
work,  and  was  of  beaten  metal  fully  gilt.  As  the  chon- 
icle  says:  "There  is  not  thought  to  be  another  more 
grand  and  sumptuous  in  the  whole  of  this  kingdom." 
Let  us  try  and  imagine  the  effect  of  this  wonderful  work 
of  art,  no  vestige  of  which  now  remains.  Jewels  of  all 
kinds,  gems,  cameos,  and  all  manner  of  precious  stones 
thickly  studded  the  framework  of  the  marvellous  re- 
pousse pictures,  and  sparkled  in  the  light  of  the  tapers 
ever  burning  round  the  shrine.  On  the  cresting  of  the 
high-pitched  roof  perched  the  eagle  with  its  overshadow- 
ing wings,  and  on  either  side  were  the  golden  suns  with 
their  jewelled  rays!  Such  was  the  shrine  itself,  which 
thrice  a  year,  upon  Ascension  day  and  on  the  two  fes- 
tivals of  St.  Alban,  was  taken  from  its  pedestal  and 
borne  in  procession  by  four  priests  in  copes,  and  on  these 
occasions  it  was  wont  to  be  covered  by  the  rich  cloth  of 
woven  gold  presented  for  that  purpose  by  Thomas 
Woodstock,  Duke  of  Gloucester. 

In  speaking  of  St.  Albans  it  is  impossible  not  to  men- 
tion the  scriptorium  and  library  of  the  Abbey.  The 
Gesta  Abbatum  says  that  the  nineteenth  abbot  did  much 
to  attract  learned  men  to  the  cloister.  He  was  a  great 
book  collector,  and  to  him  may  be  traced  the  origin  of  the 
school  of  Sl  Albans  chroniclers,  to  whom  we  owe  so 
much  of  our  knowledge  of  English  history.  The  names 
of  Matthew  Paris  and  Walsingham  alone  are  sufficient  to 
claim  the  gratitude  of  all  generations  for  the  work  of  the 

[25] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

St.  Albans  historical  writers,  whilst  the  volumes  of  the 
St.  Albans  chroniclers  testify  to  the  honesty  with  which 
they  set  down  their  annals  and  to  their  true  historical 
methods. 

It  must  be  added  that  St.  Albans  obtained  from  the 
Pope  the  rank  of  premier  abbey  among  English  Bene- 
dictine houses.  The  Pope  who  granted  this  privilege, 
Pope  Adrian  IV,  had  in  his  youth  been  connected  with 
the  monastery;  his  father  had  become  a  monk,  and  the 
son,  then  a  youth,  requested  to  be  allowed  to  follow  his 
parent's  example.  He  failed,  however,  to  satisfy  those 
who  were  appointed  to  examine  him  as  to  the  sufficiency 
of  his  learning,  and  he  was  rejected.  He  subsequently 
studied  in  Paris,  and  finally  became  Cardinal  and  Pope. 

Situated  so  near  the  capital  and  on  a  much-frequented 
road,  the  Abbey  of  St.  Albans  underwent  many  vicissi- 
tudes in  the  troubles  which  at  various  time  afflicted  the 
country.  It  suffered  much  at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth 
century  in  the  labour  troubles  from  the  demands  of  its 
tenants,  and,  judged  by  our  standards,  the  abbots  were 
not  always  too  wise  in  repressing  what  seems  to  us  the 
legitimate  aspiration  of  their  dependents.  Its  peculiar 
position  in  the  ecclesiastical  world  brought  with  it  many 
misunderstandings  and  not  a  few  serious  quarrels.  Dur- 
ing the  civil  war  of  the  fifteenth  century  its  sympathies 
were  engaged  on  the  one  side  too  much  for  its  peace. 
On  the  whole  it  would  appear  to  have  been  governed 
wisely  and  well,  although  a  letter  written  by  Cardinal 
Morton  towards  the  close  of  its  long  history  seems  to  sug- 

[26] 


ST.   ALBANS 

gest  that  there  were  serious  and  even  scandalous  matters 
to  redress.  The  fact,  however,  that  as  the  result  of  the 
inquiry  the  superior  remained  unchanged,  would  seem 
to  show  that  the  reports,  which  may  have  been  in  part 
at  least  political,  were  found  to  be  devoid  of  truth.  At 
any  rate  it  is  obviously  unjust  to  condemn  any  house  or 
individual  on  mere  rumour  alone. 

Before  the  close  of  the  history  of  St.  Albans  the  art  of 
printing  was  introduced  and  seems  to  have  been  practised 
from  1480  in  the  monastery.  On  the  death  of  Abbot 
Ramridge,  Cardinal  Wolsey  obtained  leave  from  the 
King  to  hold  the  abbacy  of  St.  Albans  in  commendam — 
the  first  and  luckily,  almost  the  only  instance  of  the 
pernicious  practice  in  England.  On  his  death,  however, 
in  1530,  the  monks  were  allowed  to  make  choice  of  a 
superior  in  the  person  of  Robert  Caton,  prior  of  Nor- 
wich. On  his  death  in  1538,  the  prior  of  the  house, 
Richard  Boreman  or  Stevenage,  was  chosen  to  fill  his 
place.  And  as  he  surrendered  his  house  to  the  King,  it 
has  usually  been  supposed  that  his  appointment  was 
made  for  the  purpose  of  handing  over  his  charge  to  his 
royal  master. 


[27] 


© 


BATTLE   ABBEY 

ATTLE  ABBEY  was  founded  by  William  the 
Conqueror  to  commemorate  the  battle  of  Has- 
tings and  to  fulfil  his  vow  to  erect  such  a  mon- 
astery should  he  obtain  the  victory  in  that  de- 
cisive fight.  The  foundation  was  dedicated  to  St.  Mar- 
tin, and  the  building  was  placed  upon  the  rising  ground 
which  looks  down  upon  the  rolling  valleys  which  slope 
southwards  toward  the  bay  of  Hastings.  It  occupies  the 
classic  site  of  Senlac,  where  the  last  stand  was  made  by 
the  English  under  Harold,  on  the  memorable  day  of  the 
battle  of  Hastings,  October  14,  1066.  In  consequence  of 
his  vow  William  began  to  build  the  abbey  a  year  after 
the  fight,  and  William  of  Malmesbury  records  the  tradi- 
tion that  the  High  Altar  was  placed  on  the  very  spot 
where  Harold  fell,  and  where  the  English  royal  standard 
was  found  after  the  battle.  Mr.  Gough,  the  eminent 
English  antiquary,  writing  in  1789,  says:  "This  spot  is 
just  at  the  eastern  white  gate  of  the  yard  wall:  the  foun- 
dations were  not  long  since  removed,  the  site  having 
served  as  a  burial  place  for  Catholics." 

It  is  said  that  amongst  those  who  heard  William's 
vow  on  the  night  before  Hastings  was  a  monk  named 
William  Faber.     He  had  formerly  been  in   the   Con- 

[28] 


BATTLE  ABBEY 

queror's  service,  but  had  renounced  the  profession  of 
arms  to  become  a  religious  at  the  abbey  of  Marmoutier. 
When  the  descent  of  the  Duke  upon  England  was  de- 
termined upon,  the  monk,  William,  joined  the  army  as 
a  chaplain  and,  on  hearing  the  vow  before  the  battle, 
proposed  that,  in  the  event  of  the  abbey  being  built,  it 
should  be  dedicated  to  St.  Martin,  the  patron  of  his 
monastery  of  Marmoutier;  this  William  at  once  prom- 
ised should  be  done. 

According  to  the  Conqueror's  original  design  "  the 
monastery  of  St.  Martin  of  Battle  "  was  intended  to  serve 
for  140  monks,  although  in  fact  provision  was  ultimately 
made  for  sixty  only.  The  Abbey  of  Marmoutier  in 
Normandy  furnished  the  religious,  who  were,  of  course, 
Benedictines.  A  monk  named  Blancard  was  destined 
to  be  the  first  abbot  of  the  new  foundation,  but  after  go- 
ing back  to  his  monastery  to  make  some  necessary  ar- 
rangements on  taking  up  his  office,  he  was  drowned 
whilst  crossing  back  to  England.  Another  monk  of 
Marmoutier,  named  Gausbert,  was  thereupon  appointed 
in  1076. 

King  William  did  not  live  to  see  the  completion  of  his 
work,  for  although  the  church  was  really  begun  in  1076 
it  was  not  entirely  finished  until  1095.  When  completed 
it  measured  315  feet  in  length,  and  the  chronicler  relates 
that  the  Conqueror  had  intended  to  make  it  500  feet. 
According  to  the  legend.  King  William  dreamt  that  he 
was  to  build  a  church  the  length  of  which  in  feet  should 
equal  in  number  the  years  his  descendants  were  to  rule 

[31] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

in  England.  Thrice  in  his  dream  he  essayed  to  set  the 
foundations  east  and  west  500  feet  apart,  but  each  time 
the  length  measured  only  315  feet,  and  in  consequence 
the  length  of  the  church  was  determined  at  this  measure. 

When  William  the  Conqueror  lay  dying  at  Rouen,  he 
was  not  unmindful  of  the  abbey  he  had  raised  in  Eng- 
land to  commemorate  his  conquest.  He  charged  his  son 
William  that,  on  his  return  to  take  the  crown  which  was 
to  be  his  inheritance,  he  should  add  liberally  to  the  en- 
dowments of  the  house.  He  himself,  moreover,  gave, 
says  the  chronicle,  "  his  royal  pallium  and  very  costly 
gems,  as  well  as  three  hundred  amulets  wrought  of  gold 
and  silver,  to  many  of  which  were  attached  chains  of 
those  metals,  and  which  contained  innumerable  relics  of 
the  saints.  He  gave  likewise  a  feretory  in  the  form  of 
an  altar,  in  which  were  also  many  relics  and  upon  which 
in  his  expeditions  Mass  was  wont  to  be  celebrated." 

There  is  a  good  deal  left  of  the  domestic  buildings  of 
Battle;  of  the  church  not  much;  a  fragment  of  the  south- 
west end  of  the  church,  the  cloister  door,  the  south  wall 
of  the  nave  and  the  crypt  of  the  Lady  Chapel  are  all 
that  remain.  Of  the  claustral  portion  what  still  stand 
are  the  buildings  on  the  west  walk  of  the  cloister  of  nine 
bays;  portions  of  the  refectory  built  in  1275  on  the  south 
side;  traces  of  the  entrance  to  the  chapter-house  on  the 
east.  On  this  same  side  were  the  dormitory,  154  feet 
in  length,  and  other  buildings,  including  the  calefactory 
or  common  room,  60  feet  by  2>7i  a  magnificent  room  with 
pillars. 

[32] 


BATTLE  ABBEY 

The  majestic  gateway,  with  the  courthouse  and  por- 
ter's lodge  on  either  side,  as  well  as  the  enclosure  wall, 
built  in  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century,  are  in 
excellent  preservation  to-day;  so,  too,  is  the  guest-hall 
on  the  southwest  which  is  195  feet  long  by  40  feet  broad, 
and  now  is  divided  up  into  store  chambers,  etc. 

The  first  Abbot,  Gausbert,  appointed,  as  already  re- 
lated, in  1076,  died  in  the  very  year  of  the  dedication  of 
the  church,  and,  in  place  of  allowing  a  free  election  to 
the  monks,  William  Rufus,  by  the  advice  of  Anselm,  im- 
posed upon  the  monastery  Henry,  the  prior  of  Christ 
Church,  Canterbury.  He  was  received  at  Battle  on  June 
II,  1096,  and  at  once  sent  to  his  old  monastery  for  a  num- 
ber of  monks  of  that  house  to  help  him  in  governing 
Battle.  This  naturally  caused  great  dissatisfaction  and 
led  to  many  difficulties. 

In  1107,  the  abbacy  being  vacant.  King  Henry  sent 
for  a  certain  monk  of  Caen,  "  renowned  for  his  piety  and 
prudence,"  Ralph  by  name,  and  appointed  him  abbot. 
He  was  already  well  known  in  England,  as  he  had  come 
over  with  Archbishop  Lanfranc  and  had  been  for  some 
time  in  the  Monastery  at  Rochester.  *'  Under  the  ad- 
ministration of  this  venerable  man,"  says  the  chronicler, 
"  the  abbey  attained  such  a  pitch  of  honour,  by  his  prov- 
idence, by  the  faithful  care  of  the  brethren,  and  by  the 
display  of  hospitality  to  all  without  needless  delay,  that 
it  became  second  to  none  of  the  monasteries  of  England  in 
regard  of  religion,  bounty,  clemency,  charity  and  the 
reputation  of  humanity." 

[33] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

It  was  during  the  rule  of  this  abbot  that  a  feretory  was 
made  to  contain  the  relics  of  the  saints  given  to  the  mon- 
astery by  the  Conqueror  and  others  which  they  had  since 
obtained.  This  shrine  was  made  of  gold  and  silver,  and 
is  said  to  have  been  of  "very  choice  workmanship  and 
adorned  with  many  valuable  jewels." 

Under  Abbot  Ralph  the  abbey  prospered  exceedingly 
both  within  and  without.  Loving  the  beauty  of  God's 
house,  he  caused  the  church  to  be  roofed  with  lead  and 
completed  what  had  been  left  undone  in  the  general  struc- 
ture. He  added  to  the  buildings  of  the  monastery  and 
decorated  it  in  a  manner  suitable  to  its  purpose.  What 
the  chronicle  says  of  him  is  too  interesting  not  to  be  given 
at  length.  "  Although  he  continually  governed  those 
who  were  under  his  authority,  yet  he  was  himself  ever 
obedient  to  the  rules  and  commanded  no  one  as  a  master. 
He  sustained  the  infirmities  of  others  and  made  them 
strong.  His  deeds  corresponded  with  what  he  taught: 
his  example  preceded  his  precept.  He  inculcated  a 
prompt  attendance  at  divine  service  and,  supporting  his 
aged  limbs  upon  his  staff,  he  always  came  to  choir,  even 
before  the  young  men.  Ever  first  in  the  church,  he  was 
uniformly  the  last  to  quit  it.  Thus  he  was  a  pattern  of 
good  works;  a  Martha  and  a  Mary.  He  was  the  serpent 
and  the  dove:  he  was  a  Noah  amidst  the  waters.  Whilst 
he  never  willingly  rejected  the  raven,  he  always  gladly 
received  the  dove.  He  governed  the  clean  and  the  un- 
clean and  was  a  prudent  ruler  under  all  circumstances. 
.  .  .  [Whilst  seeing  to  the  cultivation  of  the  monastic 

[34] 


BATTLE  ABBEY 

lands]  he  overlooked  not  the  spiritual  husbandry,  tilling 
earthly  hearts  with  the  ploughshare  of  good  doctrine  in 
many  books  which  he  wrote,  stimulating  them  thereby  to 
bear  the  fruit  of  good  works;  and  though  his  style  was 
homely,  yet  was  it  rich  in  the  way  of  morality. 

"  In  the  sparingness  of  his  food  he  was  a  Daniel;  in  the 
sufferings  of  his  body  a  Job;  in  the  bowing  of  his  knees  a 
Bartholomew,  bending  them  full  often  in  supplication, 
though  he  could  scarce  move  them  in  walking.  Every 
day  he  recited  the  whole  Psalter  in  order,  hardly  ceasing 
in  his  genuflexions  and  his  Psalmody  three  days  before 
his  death.  Neither  his  racking  cough  nor  his  vomiting 
of  blood,  nor  his  advanced  age,  nor  the  attenuation  of  his 
flesh  to  hardly  more  than  mere  skin,  availed  to  daunt  this 
man  nor  to  turn  him  aside  from  any  point  of  his  elevated 
piety.  But  lo!  after  many  agonies  and  bodily  sufferings, 
when  he  was  eighty-four  years  of  age  and  had  been  a 
monk  sixty  years  and  thirty-six  days,  and  when  he  had 
been  Abbot  of  Battle  seventeen  years  and  twenty  days, 
the  great  Householder  summoned  him  to  the  reward  of 
his  day's  penny.  It  was  on  the  fourth  of  the  Kalends  of 
September  in  the  evening  of  the  day,  that  this  holy,  sweet, 
and  humble  father  departed.  He  was  lying  upon  his 
lowly  couch,  after  partaking  of  a  little  food,  and  had 
devoutly  blessed  several  of  the  brethren,  when  the  end 
came." 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  chronicle  of  Battle  Abbey 
in  the  times  immediately  following  this  is  taken  up  with 
the  settlements  of  disputes  as  to  jurisdiction  and   the 

[3S] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

rights  of  bishops  over  the  abbey.  In  one  of  these  St. 
Thomas  Becket  appears  as  the  King's  Chancellor  in  the 
great  suit  which  was  heard  before  the  King  in  person. 

Of  one  of  these  abbots,  Odo,  the  chronicler  writes: 
*'  He  was  a  pattern  of  a  holy  life  to  all  in  word  and  deed. 
Rich  in  the  bowels  of  compassion,  he  relieved  every  one 
who  sought  his  assistance.  His  hospitality  knew  no 
respect  of  persons,  the  abbey  gates  stood  open  to  all 
comers  who  needed  either  refreshment  or  lodging.  For 
those  persons  whom  the  rule  of  the  establishment  forbade 
to  sleep  within  the  abbey  he  provided  entertainment  with- 
out the  circuit  of  its  walls.  He  associated  with  the 
brethren  in  all  the  Divine  Office  in  the  abbey  church,  in 
reading  and  in  meditation  in  the  cloister;  he  took  his  food 
in  the  refectory,  in  short,  he  was  as  one  of  themselves 
except  that  he  did  not  sleep  in  the  common  dormitory. 
Nothing  of  pride  was  to  be  seen  in  his  carriage,  his  actions 
and  his  habits,  and  nothing  that  savoured  of  levity." 

On  the  whole  the  lives  of  the  series  of  abbots,  until  the 
dissolution  of  the  monastery  in  1539,  do  not  present  any 
features  of  particular  interest  to  the  general  reader.  The 
even  tenor  of  the  regular  observance  in  the  monastery, 
which  was  apparently  disturbed  by  nothing  which  merited 
to  be  specially  recorded,  may  be  taken  to  speak  well  of 
men  whose  chief  duty,  according  to  the  terms  of  their 
foundation,  was  to  pray  for  the  souls  of  those  who  had 
perished  in  the  great  slaughter  when  William  I  con- 
quered England. 

The  last  abbot,  John  Hamond,  was  elected  in  1529. 

[36] 


BATTLE  ABBEY 

When  Dr.  Layton,  in  1536,  came  to  Battle  as  one  of 
Henry  VIII's  commissioners,  he  did  not  find  Abbot 
Hamond  as  ready  as  he  wished  to  meet  the  fate  that 
awaited  his  monastery.  He  ordered  him  to  court  to  be 
dealt  with  by  Crumwell  himself,  and  he  thus  bespeaks 
his  master's  attention  to  his  case:  "The  abbot  of  Battle 
is  the  varaste  hayne  betle  and  buserde,  and  the  arants 
chorle  that  ever  I  see.  In  all  other  places  whereat  I  come, 
specially  the  black  sort  of  develish  monks,  I  am  sorry  to 
know  as  I  do.  Surely  I  thynke  they  be  paste  amendement 
and  that  God  hath  utterly  withdrawn  his  grace  from 
them." 

Speed,  on  the  authority  of  these  visitors,  a  specimen 
of  judicial  temper  is  given  above  and  whose  testimony 
no  one  now  credits,  represents  Abbot  Hamond  and  several 
of  his  monks  as  having  an  infamous  reputation.  "  This," 
says  Dugdale,  "  is  hardly  reconcilable  with  the  grant 
made  to  this  abbot  of  a  pension  at  the  dissolution,  par- 
ticularly as  the  instrument  which  bestowed  the  pension 
stipulated  that  it  should  be  vacated  in  case  of  the  King 
preferring  him  to  the  cure  of  souls."  The  same  applies 
also  to  the  other  monks  of  Battle  who  were  included  in 
those  secret  and  never-inquired-into  accusations.  More- 
over, it  must  be  remembered  that  these  charges  were 
made  to  Crumwell  before  the  meeting  of  Parliament  in 
1536,  which  dissolved  the  smaller  religious  houses  and 
when,  according  to  the  King's  positive  assertion,  made 
before  the  passing  of  that  Act,  there  was  actual  evidence 
to  show  that  in  the  greater  monasteries,  of  which  Battle 

[37] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

was  one,  religion  was  right  well  observed  and  maintained. 
Finally,  when  three  years  later,  in  1539,  pressure  was 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  superiors  of  the  greater  houses 
to  force  them  to  yield  the  houses  into  the  King's  hands, 
John  Gage  and  Richard  Layton,  who  went  to  take  the 
surrender  of  Battle,  wrote  on  May  26  to  say  that  the  deed 
had  been  signed  and  that  all  was  in  their  hands.  There 
was  then  no  need  to  blacken  the  character  of  those  who 
had  been  despoiled,  and  so  nothing  whatever  is  said  about 
these  charges  and,  on  the  contrary,  pensions  were  granted 
to  the  abbot  and  to  each  of  the  monks,  four  of  whom  were 
university  men,  with  degrees  in  theology. 


[38] 


BEAULIEU 

^^^^HE  Cistercian  Abbey  of  Beaulleu  is  pictur- 
m  C|  esquely  situated  in  the  New  Forest,  not  far 
^^^^^  from  Southampton  Water,  and  opposite  to  its 
daughter  house  of  Netley.  Founded  in  1204 
by  King  John,  it  soon  became  an  important  house  of  the 
Order;  it  sent  forth  colonies  to  Hales  and  Newenham  as 
well  as  to  Netley;  it  owned  extensive  landed  property, 
and  its  superior  was  a  mitred  abbot  with  a  seat  in  the 
House  of  Peers.  Now  only  a  few  ruins  remain  to  mark 
the  place  where  it  stood,  whilst,  as  a  curious  contrast, 
Netley  over  the  water,  its  comparatively  humble  daugh- 
ter, stands,  as  far  at  least  as  the  church  is  concerned,  al- 
most as  perfect  as  the  day  when  the  royal  wreckers  of  the 
sixteenth  century  left  it  to  unprotected  decay. 

At  Beaulieu  the  remains  include  the  sacristy  and  a  re- 
cess for  a  cloister  cupboard  or  aumbry;  the  front  of  the 
chapter  house  with  an  entrance  of  three  arches;  on  the 
east  side  of  the  cloister  garth  the  common  house;  on  the 
west  two  long  buildings  standing  over  undercrofts  285 
feet  in  length  and  divided  by  a  passage  and  a  wall  from 
the  cloister.  A  range  of  seven  recesses,  probably  for 
studies,  fills  the  north  wall,  and  on  the  south  are  the  re- 

[39] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

fectory  (125  feet  by  30  feet)  and  the  remains  of  the 
lavatory.  In  the  wall  of  the  refectory  is  a  charming  pul- 
pit, or  reading  place,  with  the  stairway  leading  up  to  it. 
Of  the  church  little  or  nothing  is  left,  if  we  exclude  the 
foundation  of  the  main  pillars,  which  have  been  uncov- 
ered. 

Besides  this  there  is  the  main  gateway  still  standing, 
the  Watergate,  and  to  the  north  what  is  variously  called 
a  barn  and  a  winepress.  This  Watergate  may,  perhaps, 
suggest  some  explanation  of  why  so  much  of  the  build- 
ings of  Beaulieu  have  disappeared  altogether.  The 
abbey  was  situated  on  the  Beaulieu  river,  a  waterway  to 
the  sea  which  afforded  an  excellent  opportunity  for  barges 
to  carry  off  the  stones  quarried  out  of  the  dismantled 
walls  and  convey  them  to  where  they  would  be  useful  for 
some  building  or  other.  It  used  to  be  said  that  much 
of  the  material  was  taken  to  raise  forts  for  the  defence  of 
the  coast  in  this  part  of  the  country,  and  people  were 
wont  to  point  to  Calshot  Castle  in  particular,  as  being 
able  to  account  for  a  good  deal  of  the  Beaulieu  Abbey 
buildings  in  its  foundations. 

But  to  go  back  to  the  story  of  this  Cistercian  house. 
On  its  first  establishment  by  King  John  in  1204,  it  was 
colonized  by  Citeaux  itself.  The  royal  charter  speaks  of 
it  as  being  intended  for  thirty  monks,  but  apparently 
twenty-two  only  came  to  settle  in  the  place  chosen,  and 
which  from  its  beautiful  surroundings  and  royal  founder 
was  at  once  called  Royal  Beaulieu — Abbatia  de  Bello- 
loco  Regis,     A  legend  is  connected  with  the  foundation. 

[40] 


HEAL'LIEU    abbey:     DOOR    OF    THE    ABBEY    CHURCH 


BEAULIEU 

It  is  said  that  King  John  treated  the  Cistercians  in  Eng- 
land in  no  better  way  than  he  did  his  other  subjects.  On 
the  occasion  of  one  special  demand  for  a  large  subsidy 
the  abbots  of  the  Order  journeyed  to  Lincoln  to  see  the 
King  in  person  and  to  expostulate  with  him.  John  was 
in  no  amiable  frame  of  mind,  and  on  seeing  the  abbots 
and  hearing  what  their  mission  was  he  ordered  his 
mounted  men  to  ride  them  down  with  their  horses — "  an 
unjust,  wicked  and  unheard-of  order  for  any  Christian 
man  to  give,"  says  the  chronicler.  Of  course  the  King's 
servants  refused  to  use  them  thus  and  even  took  the  abbots 
to  their  own  lodgings.  But  this  was  not  to  be  the  end  of 
the  matter:  according  to  the  writer  of  the  narrative,  the 
following  night,  when  King  John  had  retired  to  bed,  he 
saw  in  a  vision  or  dreamt  that  he  saw,  the  Judgment  Seat 
set  up  and  himself  brought  by  the  abbots  before  it  for 
condemnation.  In  the  result  these  good  religious  men 
were  ordered  by  the  judge  to  scourge  the  King  with  whips 
for  his  treatment  of  their  Order.  Even  next  morning, 
when  the  vision  and  its  lesson  were  almost  forgotten.  King 
John  seemed  to  feel  the  result  of  his  castigation,  at  least  so 
the  story  goes,  and  he  consulted  a  friend  about  this  strange 
experience.  His  adviser  told  him  that  it  was  evidently  a 
sign  that  heaven  was  angry  at  the  way  in  which  he  had 
treated  the  Cistercian  abbots,  and  suggested  that  he  should 
make  amends  to  the  Order  by  building  them  a  house.  He 
accepted  the  advice  and  promised  to  establish  a  monastery 
in  the  New  Forest  at  the  place  now  known  as  Beaulieu. 
The  church,  of  which  nothing  but  the  foundations  is 

[43] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

left,  was  355  feet  long,  with  double  choir  aisles.  It  was 
consecrated  with  great  ceremony  in  the  presence  of  Henry 
HI,  Queen  Eleanor,  their  son  Prince  Edward  and  others, 
in  1269.  Queen  Isabella,  wife  of  the  founder.  King  John, 
was  buried  in  the  choir  of  the  church.  In  1471  Margaret 
of  Anjou  took  refuge  in  the  Sanctuary  at  Beaulieu,  and  in 
149 1  Perkin  Warbeck  for  a  time  was  harboured  within 
its  walls.  In  this  latter  case,  however,  watch  was  kept 
day  and  night  upon  the  place  by  Lord  Daubigny,  who 
surrounded  the  walls  with  300  horsemen,  and  ultimately, 
seeing  escape  hopeless,  Perkin  Warbeck  surrendered  to 
them. 

In  the  list  of  abbots  are  to  be  found  the  names  of  three 
who  subsequently  became  bishops  in  England.  These 
were  Hugh,  who  was  made  Bishop  of  Carlisle  in  1218 
and  was  the  builder  of  the  choir  of  his  cathedral;  Tide- 
man  of  Winchcombe,  created  bishop  of  Worcester  in 
1380,  and  Thomas  Skeffington,  Bishop  of  Bangor  in  1505, 
who  built  the  tower  of  the  cathedral. 

Besides  the  daughter-houses  already  named,  Beaulieu 
established  two  cells,  one  in  Cornwall,  at  a  place  called 
Llanachebran  or  St.  Keveran,  where  there  had  been  a 
house  of  secular  canons  till  the  Norman  conquest;  and 
Farringdon  in  Berkshire.  This  last-named  was  a  manor 
which  had  been  given  by  King  John  to  Citeaux  in  1203 
on  condition  that  an  abbey  of  the  Order  should  be  founded 
there;  but  the  next  year,  1204,  on  the  establishment  of 
Beaulieu  in  Hampshire,  it  was  agreed  that  the  donation 
should  be  transferred  to  this  house,  and  a  few  monks  of 

[44] 


BEAULIEU 

Beaulieu  were  established  here  under  the  ordinary  condi- 
tions which  regulated  the  government  of  the  cells  of  any 
abbey. 

It  is  a  well-known  historical  fact  that  many  injustices 
were  perpetrated  in  the  dissolution  of  the  smaller  mon- 
asteries which  had  been  granted  to  Cardinal  Wolsey  to 
make  his  foundations  at  Oxford  and  Ipswich.  Amongst 
others,  and  unjustly,  as  it  was  a  cell  of  a  greater  house, 
was  St.  Keveran's,  Cornwall,  which  belonged  to  Beaulieu. 
The  abbot  at  the  time  was  Thomas  Skeryngton,  who  was 
also  bishop  of  Bangor,  and  he  wrote  to  the  Cardinal  to 
protest  against  the  high-handed  proceedings  of  his  agents. 
The  property,  he  says,  had  given  to  the  abbey  by  Richard 
Earl  of  Cornwall  400  years  before,  and  it  had  now  been 
suddenly  seized  and  he  who  had  taken  it  wrote  to  say  that 
"  the  benefice  which  is  impropriated  to  Beaulieu  he 
mindeth  to  give  to  the  finding  of  scholars."  This  letter 
of  remonstrance  was  successful,  and  Beaulieu  kept  St. 
Keveran's  as  part  of  its  possessions  till  the  dissolution. 

In  the  early  part  of  March,  1536,  John  Browning, 
abbot  of  Beaulieu,  died,  and  Thomas  Stephens,  then 
abbot  of  Netley,  was  elected  his  successor.  This  was  no 
sooner  done  than  Netley  was  suppressed,  and  all  the  Net- 
ley  monks  accompanied  their  abbot  to  Beaulieu.  On 
April  2,  1538,  Abbot  Stephen  and  twenty  monks  signed 
their  surrender  of  Beaulieu  to  the  King.  After  this  came 
the  usual  wrecking  process.  What  precious  plate  and 
vestments  these  Cistercian  monks  possessed  is  unknown; 
all  indication  is  lost  in  the  process  of  collecting  these 

[47] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

things  for  the  King's  use.  One  solitary  example  from 
Beaulieu  is  all  that  remains.  Amongst  the  vestments  and 
hangings,  etc.,  which  the  official  appointed  to  carry  out 
the  suppression  considered  worth  sending  up  to  Henry 
were  "  three  altar  frontals." 

A  few  words  may  be  said  about  the  last  abbot.  In 
February,  1540,  he  was  instituted  to  the  rectory  of  Bent- 
worth,  near  Alton,  vacant  by  the  deprivation  of  John 
Palmes.  It  was  not  without  considerable  difficulty  that 
"  the  abbot  quondam  of  Beaulieu  "  was  able  to  take  pos- 
session of  this  benefice.  In  1548  Thomas  Stephens  was 
collated  to  the  treasurership  of  Salisbury  Cathedral,  and 
he  died  in  1550,  holding  both  preferments. 


[48] 


BUCKFAST  ABBEY 

^T.    MARY'S    ABBEY   OF    BUCKFAST  is 

beautifully  situated  in  Devonshire,  high  up  on 
Dartmoor,  a  few  hundred  yards  from  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Dart  and  the  Holy  Brook.  The 
church  measured  some  250  feet,  but  the  ravages  of  the 
time  after  the  dissolution  have  left  but  little  trace  of  the 
entire  mass  of  buildings,  with  the  exception  of  a  barn  and 
a  tower.  On  the  site  of  the  old  house  quite  recently  a  new 
monastery  of  Benedictine  monks  has  risen  up,  and  at  the 
present  time  another  church  is  being  built  upon  the 
foundations  of  that  which  was  swept  away  in  the  sixteenth 
century. 

Tradition,  which  would  appear  to  be  well  founded, 
places  the  establishment  of  the  abbey  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury; and  according  to  some  there  was  here  a  Christian 
British  settlement  dedicated  to  St.  Petrock  at  a  very  much 
earlier  period.  When  the  light  of  written  records,  how- 
ever, breaks  in  upon  the  story  of  the  monastery,  we  are, 
indeed,  in  a  very  much  later  period,  but  with  the  abbey 
already  in  existence. 

Until  comparatively  recent  times  little  was  known  of 
Buckfast  beyond  a  charter  or  two  and  a  somewhat  meagre 

[49] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

list  of  abbots.  A  few  years  ago,  however,  among  a  mass 
of  waste  paper  and  parchment  bought  by  an  Exeter  mer- 
chant from  various  sources  was  a  fragment  of  a  parch- 
ment book,  which  proved  to  be  part  of  the  Cartulary  of 
Buckfast  Abbey.  It  is,  indeed,  only  a  fragment,  but  it 
gives  much  information  as  to  the  possessions  of  the  abbey, 
the  names  of  certain  of  the  abbots  not  recorded  elsewhere, 
the  record  of  early  benefactors  and  land-owners,  and  inci- 
dentally some  brief  details  in  the  general  history  of  the 
monastery.  The  document  is  to  be  found  printed  in  the 
third  volume  of  Bishop  Grandisson's  Register  (p.  1563 
seqq.)  and  edited  by  Prebendary  Hingeston-Randolph. 

The  earliest  written  record,  apparently,  states  that  the 
monastery  was  in  the  possession  of  "  the  monks  of  the 
order  of  Savigny,"  that  is,  of  those  who  followed  the  rule 
of  the  house  founded  by  Blessed  Vitalis  of  Savigny  in 
1 1 12,  which  house,  the  mother  of  many  daughter  monas- 
teries, became  identified  with  the  Cistercian  movement. 
The  Baron  of  Totnes  Castle,  a  few  miles  away  down  the 
Dart  from  Buckfast,  appears  as  one  of  the  early  bene- 
factors of  that  monastery.  He  came  to  the  Chapter  and, 
with  his  two  sons,  "  assenting  with  entire  hearts,"  he  gave 
lands  to  the  Norman  monks  from  Savigny  that  they  might 
sing  daily  the  "  Mary  Mass"  for  the  welfare  of  his  own 
soul  and  for  the  soul  of  Alice  his  wife,  of  his  ancestors  and 
his  posterity.  He  reserves  to  himself  and  his  people  a 
right  of  way  to  a  ford  over  the  Dart,  when  they  should 
wish  to  go  to  market  to  Ashburton.  "  The  ford,"  says  a 
modern  writer,  "  has  long  been  disused,  but  the  house 

[so] 


BUCKFAST   ABBEY 

above  it  on  the  Ashburton  side,  still  bears  the  name  of 
'  Priestaford.' " 

A  charter  of  Henry  II,  witnessed  by  Archbishop  Theo- 
bald and  St.  Thomas  Becket,  when  Chancellor,  and  con- 
firming all  the  privileges  and  grants  of  land,  etc.,  held 
by  the  monastery  in  the  time  of  Henry  I,  his  grandfather, 
is  the  next  piece  of  the  written  history  of  Buckfast  that 
has  come  down  to  us.  Then  about  the  year  1240  a  certain 
Sir  Robert  de  Hellion  of  Ashton,  owning  a  mansion  and 
lands  called  Hosefenne,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the 
abbey,  moved  possibly  by  the  austerity  of  life  led  by  the 
Cistercian  monks  of  Buckfast,  resolved  to  give  them  some 
wine  on  the  great  festivals.  For  this  purpose  he  be- 
stowed this  manor  of  Hosefenne  upon  "  St.  Mary  of 
Buckfast,  and  the  monks  serving  God  there."  In  ac- 
knowledgment, the  religious  are  to  present  him  and  his 
heirs  forever  with  a  pound  of  wax  on  the  feast  of  the  As- 
sumption. Out  of  the  revenues  of  the  manor  the  abbot 
was  to  provide  his  monks  yearly  with  sixty-four  gallons 
of  wine,  to  be  drunk  on  the  festivals  of  Christmas,  Candle- 
mas, Whit-Sunday  and  the  Assumption;  that  is,  sixteen 
gallons  on  each  feast  day. 

No  doubt,  had  we  more  documentary  history  for  Buck- 
fast,  we  should  see  that  the  life  of  the  Cistercian  monks 
in  their  seclusion  in  Dartmoor  was  one  devoted  to  the 
service  of  God  and  of  His  poor  in  the  neighbouring  coun- 
try. The  very  absence  of  history  may  be  taken  almost  as 
a  proof  of  this.  It  is  the  difficulty,  the  quarrel,  the 
scandal  that  finds  its  way  into  the  public  record,  whilst 

[53] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

days  and  years  of  patient  service  and  regular  observance 
are  obviously  recorded  only  in  the  Book  of  Ages. 

The  admission  of  Philip  as  abbot,  on  May  21,  1349,  in 
the  year  of  the  great  pestilence  and  at  a  time  when  it  was 
most  rife  in  Devon,  and  when  all  round  about  the  clergy 
were  falling  victims  to  the  scourge,  suggests  that  St. 
Mary's,  Buckf  ast,  was  not  spared,  and  that  Abbot  William 
Gifford  died  of  the  mysterious  and  prevailing  sickness. 
If  so,  we  may  be  sure  that  he  was  not  the  only  one  of  his 
house  who  was  carried  off  by  it;  how  many  victims  there 
were  here  we  shall  never  know,  but  probably  there  were 
many.  At  the  Cistercian  house  of  Newenham  in  the  same 
county,  for  instance,  the  Register  records  that  "  in  the 
time  of  this  mortality  or  pestilence  there  died  in  this  house 
twenty  monks  and  three  lay  brothers,  and  Walter  the 
abbot  and  two  monks  only  were  left  alive  there  after  the 
sickness."  And  over  and  besides  these,  "  no  fewer  than 
eighty  persons  living  within  the  gates"  died  there. 

The  last  abbot,  Gabriel  Dunne  or  Donne,  was  ap- 
pointed only  a  very  short  time  before  the  suppression  of 
the  abbey  and  not  improbably  in  view  of  the  surrender. 
At  any  rate  the  act  was  ratified  in  the  Chapter  House  on 
February  25,  1538,  and  Dunne  received  an  annuity  of 
£120  for  his  consent  to  the  surrender.  At  the  time  the 
number  of  the  monks  was  much  reduced,  and  only  nine 
appear  upon  the  pension  list.  William  Petre,  one  of  the 
royal  commissioners  of  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries, 
received  several  manors  of  the  suppressed  monastery  as 
his  share  of  the  plunder,  and  the  site  of  the  abbey  itself 

[54] 


BUCKFAST   ABBEY 

became  the  property  of  Sir  Thomas  Dennys,  a  large  sharer 
in  the  spoils  of  the  religious  houses.  To  prevent  the  bells 
of  the  abbey  church  being  broken  in  pieces  and  sold  for 
the  price  of  the  metal,  the  inhabitants  of  Buckfastleigh,  by 
Sir  Thomas  Arundel,  the  King's  official,  paid  £33  15s.  for 
them. 


[57] 


BURY   ST.   EDMUND'S 

CHE  great  Abbey  of  Bury  arose  on  the  spot  to 
which  the  relics  of  St.  Edmund  the  King  were 
brought  for  burial  after  his  martyrdom  by  the 
Danes  in  870.  For  some  time  the  body  lay  in 
the  old  wooden  chapel  at  Hoxne  until  its  removal,  some- 
where about  903,  to  the  spot  called  at  that  time  Beodrics- 
worth,  but  now  known  as  St.  Edmund's  Bury.  In  946 
Edmund,  son  of  Edmund  the  Elder,  granted  lands  to  the 
*'  keepers  of  the  body,"  consisting  of  four  priests  and  two 
deacons,  who  were,  apparently,  members  of  a  body  of 
secular  clergy.  This  college  of  secular  priests,  as  we  may 
call  it,  was  replaced  about  A.  D.  1020  by  Benedictine 
monks,  brought  from  St.  Bennet's,  Hulme,  and  from  Ely 
by  King  Canute.  The  chief  promoter  of  this  change 
was,  apparently,  ^Ifwin,  Bishop  of  Elmham,  who  had 
formerly  been  a  member  of  the  Ely  community.  A 
monk  named  Uvius,  who  was  prior  of  St.  Bennet's,  became 
the  first  abbot,  and  almost  at  once,  by  order  of  King 
Canute,  the  existing  wooden  church  was  pulled  down  and 
replaced  by  one  of  stone.  This  was  dedicated  by  Agel- 
noth,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  1032. 

The  position  for  the  new  monastery  was  well  chosen. 
What  remains  of  the  monastic  buildings  may  now  be  seen 

[58] 


BURY    ST.    EDMUND'S 

on  some  low  ground,  protected  by  a  hill  covered  by  the 
houses  of  the  town  and  bounded  on  the  south  by  some 
rich  meadow  land,  bordering  the  little  river  Linnet, 
which,  flowing  eastward,  here  joins  the  river  Lark  and 
continues  its  course  together  with  it  towards  the  Ouse  and 
the  North  Sea.  At  the  confluence  of  these  two  small 
rivers  stands  a  bridge  of  the  thirteenth  century,  with  a 
curious  arrangement  for  a  wooden  passage,  which  has  its 
history.  Along  it,  in  the  days  gone  by,  the  sick  and  in- 
firm were  able  to  pass  over  the  flowing  stream  in  order  to 
enjoy  the  shadow  of  the  vines  planted  along  the  sunny 
river  bank;  to  the  east,  on  the  rising  ground,  signs  of  the 
terraced  vineyard  are  still  clearly  apparent. 

The  actual  remains  of  the  church,  once  505  feet  in 
length,  of  the  great  cloisters,  and  of  the  vast  monastic 
buildings  are  very  scanty.  Chief  amongst  the  actual 
existing  ruins  is  the  tower,  86  feet  high,  formerly  the  great 
gate  of  the  cemetery.  It  stands  exactly  opposite  to  the 
spot  where  the  great  western  door  of  the  church  was,  and 
it  is  still  in  good  preservation.  Of  the  rest  some  high 
masses  of  flint  and  mortar,  from  which  the  stone  casing 
has  been  cut  away,  are  all  that  remain  of  one  of  the  finest 
establishments  in  the  land.  Somewhat  further  to  the 
north  is  the  church  of  St.  James,  built  as  a  parochial 
church  by  the  monks  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  further 
on  again,  there  still  stands  the  beautiful  decorated  gate- 
way built  in  the  period  from  1327-40.  Within  it  the  re- 
mains of  the  abbot's  house  are  not  inconsiderable,  but  of 
the  extensive  western  front,  with  its  great  central  tower 

[59] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

and  its  two  lower  octagonal  towers,  which  in  size  and 
beauty  must  have  rivalled  the  front  of  Ely,  nothing  what- 
ever is  now  left.  When  Leland  saw  this  church  in  the 
day  of  its  magnificence,  with  two  noble  parish  churches 
as  it  were  supporting  it  and,  by  contrast,  showing  off  its 
immense  proportions,  and  with  its  six  smaller  chapels 
standing  within  the  precincts,  he  exclaimed:  "The  sun 
hath  not  shone  on  a  goodlier  abbey,  whether  a  man  indif- 
ferently consider  either  the  endowment  with  revenues  or 
the  largeness  or  the  incomparable  magnificence  thereof. 
He  that  saw  it  would  say,  verily,  that  it  was  a  city,  so 
many  gates  are  there  in  it,  and  some  of  brass,  and  so  many 
towers  and  a  most  stately  church,  upon  which  attend  three 
others  also,  standing  gloriously  in  one  and  the  same 
churchyard,  all  of  passing  fine  and  curious  workman- 
ship." 

Such  was  the  great  abbey  in  the  day  of  its  magnificence : 
to  this  it  was  slowly  and  painfully  built  up  during  the  five 
hundred  years  of  its  existence.  The  first  abbot  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Leofstan,  another  of  the  monks  who  had  come 
as  founders  from  Hulme,  and  it  was  during  the  time  of 
his  abbacy  that  Edward  the  Confessor  visited  the  shrine 
of  St.  Edmund  on  more  than  one  occasion.  At  these 
times,  out  of  veneration  for  the  saintly  King  and  martyr, 
Edward  was  wont  to  perform  the  last  mile  of  his  journey 
on  foot  like  an  ordinary  pilgrim.  Upon  the  death  of 
Leofstan  the  favour  of  the  Confessor  procured  the  elec- 
tion of  Baldwin,  a  monk  of  St.  Denis  and  his  own  physi- 
cian, and  the  convent  had  no  reason  to  regret  their  com- 

[60] 


BURY   ST.    EDMUND'S 

pliance  with  the  King's  suggestion.  Even  after  the 
Conquest  this  learned  abbot  continued  in  high  favour 
v^^ith  William.  He  was  always  well  received  at  Court 
and  the  King  kept  him  for  long  periods  near  his  person 
as  a  friend  and  adviser. 

Towards  the  close  of  his  life  Abbot  Baldwin  saw  that 
the  church  built  by  Canute  was  hardly  adequate  for  the 
more  modern  requirements,  when  the  abbey  had  already 
grown  in  size  and  importance.  He  determined,  there- 
fore, to  begin  the  building  of  a  noble  church,  and  so 
quickly  did  the  work  proceed  that  he  completed  what 
was  considered  one  of  the  most  wonderful  churches  of  its 
age  in  1095.  The  same  year  the  body  of  St.  Edmund  was 
translated  to  its  new  shrine  with  great  pomp,  on  April 
29,  in  the  presence  of  a  vast  concourse  of  people.  Within 
a  year  Abbot  Baldwin  died  and,  as  William  Rufus  then 
reigned  over  England,  the  monks  were  left  for  some  time 
before  they  could  obtain  permission  to  elect  a  successor. 
Even  when  Henry  I  came  to  the  throne,  in  1 100,  the  royal 
will  imposed  upon  the  monks  as  abbot  a  son  of  the  Earl 
of  Chester,  who  had  been  a  monk  of  Evrault,  in  Nor- 
mandy. It  was  really  a  bad  case  of  the  obvious  abuse  by 
which  a  religious  superior  could  be  placed  over  a  com- 
munity by  the  secular  power,  and  after  two  years  this 
utterly  unworthy  and  incapable  man  was  deposed  by  St. 
Anselm,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  A  monk  of  West- 
minster was  thereupon  chosen  by  the  religious,  and  though 
for  five  years  the  King  refused  to  recognise  him,  this  time 
of  contention  appears  to  have  been  both  prosperous  and 

[63] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

useful  to  the  monastery.  The  abbot  of  their  choice  built 
the  refectory,  the  dormitory,  the  chapter  house  and 
abbot's  quarters,  and  in  1107,  the  royal  opposition  having 
apparently  been  overcome,  he  was  blessed  by  St.  Anselm. 
He,  however,  lived  only  for  a  year  after^vards. 

During  the  last  portion  of  the  twelfth  century  Ed- 
mundsbury  was  ruled  by  the  well-known  abbot  Samson, 
who  was  elected  11 82.  He  is  probably  the  best  known 
of  the  whole  line  of  abbots,  through  the  charming  chron- 
icle of  Jocelin  of  Brakelond,  which  inspired  Carlyle's 
Past  and  Present.  The  account  of  his  presentation  to  the 
King,  as  given  by  the  annalist,  is  most  picturesque.  "  Then 
Samson  was  nominated  in  the  presence  of  the  King,"  he 
says,  "  and  when  the  King  had  consulted  with  his  men  for 
a  while,  all  were  summoned,  and  the  King  said,  'You 
have  presented  to  me  Samson.  I  know  him  not.  If  you 
had  presented  your  prior  to  me,  I  would  have  accepted 
him,  for  I  have  seen  and  known  him.  But  I  will  only  do 
what  you  will.  Take  heed  to  yourselves ;  by  the  true  eyes 
of  God,  if  you  do  ill  I  will  enact  a  recompense  at  your 
hands.' 

"  Then  he  asked  the  prior  if  he  assented  to  the  choice 
and  wished  it,  and  the  prior  answered  that  he  did  will  it 
and  that  Samson  was  worthy  of  much  greater  honour. 
Therefore  he  was  elected,  and  fell  at  the  King's  feet  and 
embraced  them.  Then  he  arose  quickly  and  hastened  to 
the  altar,  with  his  head  erect  and  without  changing  his 
expression,  chanting  the  Miserere  mei,  Deus  with  the 
brothers. 

[64] 


BURY   ST.    EDMUND'S 

"  And  when  the  King  saw  this,  he  said  to  those  that 
stood  by,  '  By  the  eyes  of  God,  this  elect  thinks  he  is 
worthy  to  rule  the  abbey.'  " 

Samson  ruled  for  thirty  years,  in  which,  whilst  dealing 
always  justly,  strictly  and  firmly  but  with  every  kindness, 
he  won  the  admiration  and  affection  of  his  monks.  Car- 
lyle  sketches  him  for  us  as  "  the  substantial  figure  of  a 
man  with  eminent  nose,  bushy  brows  and  clear-flashing 
eyes,  his  russet  beard  growing  daily  greyer,"  and  his  hair, 
which  before  his  elevation  to  the  abbot's  chair  had  been 
black,  becoming  daily  more  and  more  silvered  with  his 
many  cares.  Of  cares  he  had  plenty,  because  the  finances 
of  the  house  had  fallen  into  very  low  water  indeed,  and 
there  was  apparently  no  means  of  extricating  the  abbey 
from  the  clutches  of  the  money-lenders.  But  Samson  set 
his  heart  and  soul  to  the  task;  not  prematurely  attempt- 
ing anything  at  once,  but  studying  the  situation  with 
care  and  patience,  and  then,  when  he  had  grasped  what 
was  to  be  known,  determining  upon  the  remedy.  When 
he  came  to  die  in  121 1  he  was  followed  to  the  grave  by 
a  sorrowing  community  whose  unstinted  reverence  he 
had  won.  The  unknown  monk  of  the  abbey,  who  was 
the  author  of  another  chronicle  in  continuation  of  Joce- 
lin's,  thus  records  his  death :  "  On  the  30th  December, 
at  St.  Edmunds,  died  Samson,  of  pious  memory,  the 
venerable  abbot  of  that  place,  after  he  had  prosperously 
ruled  the  abbey  committed  to  him  for  thirty  years  and 
had  freed  it  from  a  load  of  debt,  had  enriched  it  with 
privileges,  liberties,  possessions  and  spacious  buildings, 

[65] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

and  had  restored  the  worship  of  the  church  both  inter- 
nally and  externally,  in  the  most  ample  manner.  Then 
bidding  his  last  farewell  to  his  sons,  by  whom  the  blessed 
man  deserved  to  be  blessed  for  evermore,  whilst  they  were 
all  standing  by  and  gazing  with  awe  at  a  death  which 
was  a  cause  for  admiration,  not  for  regret,  in  the  fourth 
year  of  the  interdict  he  rested  in  peace." 

Samson  was  succeeded  by  Hugh  de  Northwold,  who, 
in  1228,  became  bishop  of  Ely.  The  King  had  kept  the 
abbatial  property  in  his  hands  for  a  whole  year  before 
allowing  the  community  to  proceed  to  an  election,  and 
even  when  the  leave  came  difficulties  arose  about  the 
^'  free  choice  "  of  the  monks  which  caused  further  delays, 
and  it  was  not  until  March  10,  12 15,  that  the  question 
was  decided  in  Hugh  de  Northwold's  favour.  Even  then 
the  difficulties  were  not  at  an  end,  and  it  was  only  on  June 
9  that  he  was  received  by  the  King  to  do  homage.  By 
this  time,  however,  he  had  already  been  blessed  by  Arch- 
bishop Langton  on  May  17.  The  Archbishop  had 
thought  that  in  view  of  the  commotio,  which  had  arisen 
between  the  King  and  the  barons,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
abbot  of  St.  Edmundsbury  should  be  blessed  without  de- 
lay, and  so  put  himself  in  a  position  to  act  with  other 
ecclesiastics  with  full  abbatial  power  should  events  so 
demand.  It  was  on  May  17,  after  his  benediction  at 
Rochester,  that  the  news  came  from  London  that  the  city 
had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  barons;  and  when  the 
King  consented  to  receive  the  abbot  on  June  10,  he  did 
so  *'  in  Staine's  Meadow,"  or  Runnymead,  where  the  dis- 

[66] 


THE    ABBOT  S    BRIDGE,    BURY    ST.    EDMUNDS 


BURY   ST.    EDMUND'S 

cussions  were  already  in  progress  between  the  King  and 
his  barons,  which  issued  in  the  granting  and  proclamation 
of  the  Great  Charter.  Hugh  de  Northwold,  the  bishop, 
died  in  1254;  and  the  historian,  Matthew  of  Paris,  who 
must  have  known  him  well,  calls  him  flos  nigrorum  mon- 
achorum,  "  the  flower  of  the  Black  monks,"  and  adds  that 
as  he  had  been  known  as  an  abbot  among  abbots,  so  also 
he  shone  brightly  as  a  bishop  among  bishops. 

On  the  elevation  of  Hugh  to  the  See  of  Ely  in  1228, 
Richard  de  Insula  or  Ely  was  chosen  in  his  place.  He 
had  been  prior  of  Edmundsbury  and  for  seven  years  had 
been  abbot  of  Burton  before  he  was  chosen  to  succeed 
Hugh  de  Northwold.  He  celebrated  his  installation  on 
St.  Edmund's  Day,  in  the  presence  of  the  Achbishop  of 
Canterbury,  the  bishop  of  Ely  and  many  other  ecclesias- 
tics and  peers. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  follow  in  detail  the  succession  of 
the  various  abbots  who  ruled  over  the  destinies  of  Bury 
during  the  succeeding  centuries.  In  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury great  difficulty  and  not  a  few  serious  misunderstand- 
ings were  experienced  by  the  coming  of  the  Franciscan 
friars  to  the  town.  They  established  themselves  there 
not  only  without  the  leave  but  in  spite  of  the  opposition 
of  the  monks,  and  through  the  support  of  the  Earl  of 
Gloucester  and  the  Queen  they  maintained  themselves  in 
the  position  of  opposition  they  had  taken  up  for  nearly 
six  years.  Finally,  under  a  rescript  of  Pope  Urban  IV  in 
November,  1263,  their  removal  to  Babwell,  a  site  granted 
to  them  by  the  monks,  was  effected. 

[69] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

During  the  reigns  of  Edward  I  and  Edward  II  the 
affairs  of  the  abbey  would  appear  to  have  been  sufficiently 
prosperous.  It  was  then  that  the  mansion  for  the  recep- 
tion of  royal  guests  was  provided  by  the  monks.  It  is, 
indeed,  remarkable  how  frequent  during  the  history  of 
the  monastery  were  the  visit  of  royal  personages,  and  it 
has.  been  said  that  "  no  shrine  ever  drew  so  many  noble 
pilgrims  and  crowned  visitors."  Besides  those  already 
mentioned,  Henry  I  came,  in  1132,  to  return  thanks  for 
his  preservation  during  a  great  storm  whilst  at  sea; 
Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  in  11 89,  was  at  Bury  to  ask  for 
God's  blessing  on  going  to  war  against  the  Saracens;  and 
again,  in  1194,  on  his  return  to  offer  the  rich  standards 
of  Isaac,  King  of  Cyprus.  In  1204  King  John  visited 
the  abbey,  hardly,  perhaps,  so  much  as  a  pilgrim  as  to  ask 
for  the  loan  of  the  jewels  with  which  his  mother.  Queen 
Eleanor,  had  decked  the  shrine  of  the  martyr-king. 
Henry  III  was  twice  at  Bury  as  a  pilgrim,  in  1251  and 
1272;  Edward  I  and  his  Queen  came  in  1289  and  also  in 
1292  and  1294;  Edward  II  in  1326;  Richard  III  in  1383; 
Henry  VI  in  1433,  1436,  1446  and  1448;  Edward  IV  in 
1469;  and  Henry  VII  in  i486.  In  1272  and  again  in 
1296  a  Parliament  was  held  at  the  abbey. 

In  1327  the  then  abbot,  Thomas  de  Braughton,  wit- 
nessed the  almost  total  destruction  of  the  abbey  by  the 
townspeople  of  Edmundsbury.  Many  matters  concern- 
ing the  rights  of  the  monastery  and  the  liberties  of  the 
people  had  long  been  in  debate  between  the  convent  and 
the  town,  when  suddenly,  headed  by  the  aldermen  and 

[70] 


BURY   ST.    EDMUND'S 

burgesses,  the  people  made  repeated  armed  attacks  upon 
the  monastery  and  its  possessions.  They  sacked  and 
burned  the  monastic  buildings  and  robbed  the  abbey  of 
its  ornaments,  charters  and  treasures.  They  took  the 
prior,  Peter  de  Clopton,  and  some  twenty  monks  to  the 
chapter  house  and  there  forced  them  to  sign  documents 
subversive  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  abbey,  be- 
sides bonds  promising  to  pay  large  sums  of  money  to  the 
insurgent  tenants  and  to  free  them  from  debt.  The 
people  held  the  monastery  by  force  for  ten  months,  con- 
tinually burning  and  destroying,  so  that  when  in  the  end 
the  sheriff,  with  the  King's  soldiers,  came  to  its  relief  it 
is  said  that  the  monks'  common  room  was  the  only 
place  left  with  a  roof  on  it  in  which  to  stable  the  horses. 
After  prolonged  litigation,  the  convent  was  awarded 
£140,000  for  damages,  but,  at  the  instance  of  the  King, 
the  whole  was  remitted  except  2,000  marks,  to  be  paid  at 
the  rate  of  100  marks  a  year.  One  account  states  that 
those  who  had  been  outlawed  plotted  a  revenge.  Wait- 
ing their  time,  they  seized  the  abbot  at  his  manor  at  Char- 
ington  and,  having  bound  him,  shaved  his  head  and  beard 
and  carried  him  away  with  them  to  London.  Here  they 
kept  their  prisoner  in  secret,  removing  him  from  house  to 
house,  till  they  got  a  chance  to  convey  him  over  the 
Thames  into  Kent  and  thence  later  over  the  sea  into 
Brabant,  where  they  held  him  captive,  "  in  much  misery 
and  slavery,"  till  he  was  rescued  by  his  friends. 

The  celebration  of  the  Christmas  of  1433  by  King 
Henry  VI  at  St.  Edmundsbury  affords  us,  in  the  details 

[7«] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

that  have  come  down  to  us,  a  good  picture  of  the  greatness 
and  resources  of  the  abbey  at  this  period  of  its  existence. 
On  All  Saints'  Day,  1433,  the  King  had  publicly  an- 
nounced his  intention  of  spending  the  time  from  Christ- 
mas to  St.  George's  Day  at  the  abbey.  Preparations  were 
immediately  begun  by  the  monks,  and  the  royal  lodgings 
or  "  palace,"  as  the  record  calls  it,  having  been  found  in 
an  indifferent  state  of  repair,  eighty  workmen  were  at 
once  engaged  to  set  it  in  order  and  decorate  it. 

From  among  his  own  numerous  dependents  Abbot 
Curteys  found  no  difficulty  in  appointing  a  sufficient  suite 
to  wait  upon  the  King,  and  he  arranged,  says  the  record, 
for  a  hundred  officers  of  every  rank  to  attend  on  Henry 
during  his  stay.  He  summoned  the  aldermen  and  the 
chief  people  of  Bury  to  discuss  how  and  in  what  dress  it 
was  proper  to  receive  their  King,  and  after  much  talk  it 
was  concluded  that  the  aldermen  and  burgesses  should 
wear  their  scarlet  gowns  and  the  rest  be  content  with  red 
cloth  and  hoods  of  blood  colour.  On  Christmas  Eve, 
consequently,  the  aldermen,  burgesses  and  townsfolk,  to 
the  number  of  five  hundred,  in  their  gorgeous  robes,  set 
out  on  horseback  to  meet  King  Henry  at  Newmarket 
Heath  and  bring  him  into  Bury. 

It  is  no  very  difficult  task  to  picture  to  the  imagination 
the  vast  court  of  the  abbey  on  that  occasion,  crowded  with 
the  inhabitants  of  the  town  and  the  people  from  the 
neighbouring  villages,  all  eager  to  get  a  glimpse  of  their 
sovereign.  As  rumours  heralded  the  approach  of  the  gay 
cavalcade,  the  great  western  doors  of  the  abbey  church — 

[72] 


BURY   ST.    EDMUND'S 

works  of  beaten  bronze,  cunningly  chiselled  by  the  skil- 
ful hands  of  Master  Hugh,  and  inspired  perchance  by 
what  Abbot  Anselm,  nephew  of  the  sainted  archbishop, 
had  himself  seen  at  Monte  Cassino — were  thrown  open. 
Forth  issued  the  community,  some  sixty  or  seventy  in 
number,  all  vested  in  precious  copes  over  their  habits, 
and  following  the  cross  and  candles  and  preceding  their 
abbot  in  full  pontificals,  with  whom  on  this  occasion 
walked  Bishop  Alnwick  of  Norwich,  an  honoured  guest. 
Then  the  ranks  of  vested  monks  opened  on  either  side  and 
through  them  bishop  and  abbot  advanced  to  meet  their 
youthful  sovereign,  whereupon  the  Earl  of  Warwick, 
quickly  alighting,  assisted  the  King  to  dismount.  Henry 
at  once  advanced  towards  the  procession  and  kneeling 
upon  a  silken  cloth  was  first  sprinkled  with  holy  water  by 
the  abbot,  and  was  then  presented  with  the  crucifix  to  be 
reverently  kissed  by  him. 

The  procession  then  turned  to  re-enter  the  church. 
The  building  was  large  enough  to  accommodate  even  so 
large  a  crowd  as  was  that  day  assembled.  From  end  to  end 
the  western  front  stretched  for  nearly  250  feet;  within,  an 
unbroken  length  of  over  500  feet  met  the  eye.  The  mas- 
sive Norman  architecture  of  A.  D.  11 12  was  relieved  by 
the  painted  vaulting — that  of  the  choir  by  the  monk 
"  Dom  John  Wodecroft,  the  King's  painter,"  in  the  days 
of  Abbot  John  I  de  Norwold  (1279-1301),  that  of  the 
nave  to  match,  executed  in  the  taste  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury at  the  expense  of  the  sacrist,  John  Lavenham  (c. 
1370),  who  during  his  term  of  office  had  spent  something 

[73] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

like  £50,000  of  our  money  on  beautifying  the  church. 
The  new  lantern  tower  above  the  choir  was  his  work,  and 
so  too  were  the  clerestory  windows  round  the  sanctuary: 
the  painted  glass  in  the  windows  in  the  southern  side  of 
the  minster  were  the  gift  of  King  Edward  III  to  the 
church  of  St.  Edmund. 

After  visiting  the  Blessed  Sacrament  at  the  High  Altar, 
the  King  passed  out  of  the  sight  of  the  people  by  one  of  the 
doors  in  the  altar  screen,  which  had  been  adorned  with 
paintings  by  the  care  of  Bishop  Bromfield.  These  door- 
ways led  into  the  feretory  beyond  the  screen,  in  which 
was  the  shrine  of  the  sainted  King  and  martyr.  This 
priceless  work  of  art  rested  on  a  base  of  Gothic  stonework, 
and  was  itself  covered  with  plates  of  gold  enriched  with 
every  kind  of  jewel.  King  John  every  year  of  his  reign 
bestowed  ten  marks  on  the  work  of  beautifying  the  shrine, 
and  among  the  stones  which  sparkled  on  it  were  a  great 
and  precious  sapphire  and  a  ruby  of  great  size,  two  of  his 
special  gifts.  On  the  right  side,  too,  was  the  golden  cross 
set  with  many  jewels  surmounting  a  flaming  carbuncle, 
the  rich  gift  of  Henry  Lacy,  the  last  Earl  of  Lincoln  of 
that  name,  whilst  a  second  golden  cross  from  the  same 
benefactor  formed  the  apex  of  the  shrine. 

On  the  east,  at  the  head  of  the  shrine,  two  small 
columns  supported  a  smaller  shrine  containing  the  relics 
of  Leostan,  the  second  abbot  of  Bury,  whilst  on  the  west- 
ern side  at  the  foot  of  the  shrine  was  placed  the  altar  of 
the  Holy  Cross.  Above  the  whole  stretched  a  canopy, 
which  Prior  Lavenham  had  adorned  with  painted  pic- 

[74] 


BURY    ST.    EDMUND'S 

tures.  At  the  four  corners  were  the  great  waxen  torches 
which  burned  before  the  shrine  day  and  night,  and  were 
paid  for  by  the  rent  of  a  Norfolk  manor,  left  for  the  pur- 
pose by  King  Richard  II. 

It  is  impossible  within  limits  to  follow  in  detail  the 
story  of  Henry's  Christmas  visit  to  Edmundsbury.  It 
will,  perhaps,  be  possible,  however,  to  say  something 
about  the  treasures  which  must  have  existed  at  this  time 
in  the  abbey  vestry  and  which  have,  alas!  now  all  disap- 
peared. Unfortunately  we  have  no  inventory  of  St.  Ed- 
mundsbury, but  a  slight  anecdote  makes  us  understand 
what  it  must  have  been.  In  Abbot  Samson's  time  a 
monk  called  Walter  de  Diss  was  appointed  to  the  respon- 
sible office  of  sacrist.  After  four  days'  experience  in  the 
office  he  came  and  asked  to  be  relieved,  saying  that  since 
his  appointment  he  had  never  closed  his  eyes  and  could 
neither  rest  nor  sleep. 

Doubtless,  like  St.  Albans,  Glastonbury  and  elsewhere. 
Bury  possessed  large  sets  of  vestments,  including  ten, 
thirty  or  even  sixty  copes.  The  fragmentary  notices 
which  remain  afiford  at  all  events  some  idea  of  that  of 
which  all  exact  record  is  lost.  For  example,  here  is  a 
cope  "woven  with  gold"  and  a  precious  chasuble  given 
by  Abbot  Samson  himself;  here  is  a  chasuble  adorned 
with  gold  and  precious  stones  and  a  cope  of  the  same 
given  by  Abbot  Hugh  de  Northwold,  afterwards  bishop 
of  Ely.  Then,  in  one  press  are  kept  the  precious  copes, 
the  silken  hangings  and  other  ornaments  provided  by 
Abbot  Richard  I   (1229- 1234)  ;  then  in  another  are  the 

[75] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

set  of  fifty  copes  and  other  things  thereto  belonging  (that 
is,  doubtless,  albs,  apparels,  etc.),  which  Prior  John  Gos- 
ford  had  done  so  much  to  acquire.  Then,  to  name  only 
one  or  two  more  instances,  there  were  the  vestments  ob- 
tained at  a  cost  of  over  £200  by  John  Lavenham ;  the  vest- 
ment bloden  cum  botherflies  de  satyn  given  to  St.  Edmund 
by  Edmund  Bokenham,  chaplain  to  King  Edward  III; 
the  embroidered  cope  of  Prior  William  de  Rokeland;  the 
precious  cope  bought  for  over  £40  by  Prior  Edmund  de 
Brundish;  the  sumptuous  embroidered  cope  given  by 
Henry  Lacy,  Earl  of  Lincoln. 

Of  the  plate,  the  most  precious  piece  was  doubtless 
the  great  chalice  of  gold,  weighing  nearly  fourteen  marks, 
the  gift  of  Eleanor,  Queen  of  Henry  IL  It  was  a  chalice 
with  a  history,  for  it  had  been  given  by  the  community  as 
its  contribution  towards  the  ransom  of  King  Richard  I. 
Queen  Eleanor,  the  King's  mother,  however,  paid  its 
value  and  subsequently  restored  it  to  Edmundsbury  on 
condition  that  it  should  never  again  be  alienated,  as  she 
says  in  her  charter,  and  that  it  was  to  be  preserved  for- 
ever, a  memorial  of  her  son  Richard.  Besides  this  there 
was  another  chalice  of  fine  gold  procured  by  the  sacrist 
Hugh;  a  cross  of  gold  given  by  the  Abbot  Samson;  a 
third  golden  cross,  another  present  of  Henry  Lacy,  and 
set  with  precious  stones  to  render  it  more  worthy  as  a 
reliquary  for  a  piece  of  the  Holy  Cross.  The  same  gen- 
erous benefactor  gave  a  cup  which  was  much  prized  at 
Bury.  It  was  a  bowl  of  silver  gilt,  of  the  most  wonderful 
and  ancient  workmanship,  which  the  donor  asserted  had 

[76] 


BURY   ST.   EDMUND'S 

belonged  to  St.  Edmund  himself.  This  cup,  on  great 
days,  the  chaplain  of  the  shrine,  wearing  a  surplice,  was 
wont  to  offer  to  the  most  dignified  guests  keeping  the 
holiday  in  the  abbey. 

Abbot  Curteys,  who  entertained  the  youthful  King 
Henry  at  this  Christmas  of  1432,  was  himself  the  giver 
of  a  great  work  of  art,  a  pastoral  staff,  which  from  what 
we  know  of  it,  must  have  done  honour  to  the  English 
workman  who  made  it.  It  was  ordered  by  Abbot  Curteys 
in  1430,  and  John  Horwell,  the  goldsmith  of  London 
who  made  it,  pledged  himself  to  have  it  ready  for  All 
Saints'  Day  of  the  same  year.  In  the  crook  were  figured 
t\vo  scenes,  on  the  one  side  the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  on  the  other  the  Annunciation;  below  the  spring- 
ing of  the  curve  was  a  richly  ornamented  niche  enshrin- 
ing the  figure  of  St.  Edmund,  whilst  below  this  again 
and  forming  the  summit  of  the  stafif  were  twelve  canopies 
each  containing  one  of  the  Apostles.  The  weight  of  this 
precious  pastoral  crook  was  lalbs.  9I0ZS.,  and  it  cost  the 
abbot  £40  in  money  of  those  days. 

A  mere  glance  at  the  treasury  of  any  single  abbey  may 
afford  some  idea  of  the  devastation  which  took  place  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  Of  the  wonderful  works  of  art 
gathered  together  at  Edmundsbury  during  centuries  of 
corporate  existence  nothing  whatever  is  known  to  exist; 
the  destruction  was  complete.  No  wonder  the  commis- 
sioners of  Henry  VIII  could  write  of  Bury:  "We  have 
found  a  rich  shryne  which  was  very  cumbrous  to  deface,'* 
and  that  although  they  had  "  taken  in  the  said  monastery 

[77] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

in  gold  and  silver  5,000  marks  and  above,  over  and  be- 
sides a  rich  cross  with  emeralds,  as  also  divers  and  sundry 
stones  of  great  value,  they  had  left  the  house  w^ell  fur- 
nished "  for  a  further  spoliation.  No  wonder  that  Cam- 
den in  his  lamenting  over  the  ruin  of  this  great  house 
could  write :  "  Greater  loss  than  this,  so  far  as  the  works 
of  man  go,  England  never  suffered." 

The  visitation  of  Edmundsbury  in  1535  by  ApRice, 
Crumwell's  agent,  is  a  very  good  example  of  the  kind 
of  work  these  men  did.  ApRice's  letter  states  that  they 
could  find  out  nothing  from  the  religious,  "  although  we 
did  use  much  diligence,"  and  he  therefore  concludes 
^'  that  they  had  confederated  and  compacted  before  our 
coming  that  they  should  disclose  nothing."  Neverthe- 
less, in  the  paper  of  charges  sent  with  the  letter  the  royal 
commissioners  do  not  hesitate  to  bracket  nine  of  the 
monks  together  as  guilty  of  immoralities,  and  to  suggest 
the  same  against  the  abbot.  Edmundsbury,  however, 
was,  of  course,  one  of  the  greater  abbeys,  which  subse- 
quently to  this  report  the  King  declared  in  Parliament  to 
be  in  a  good  and  religious  state.  The  end  came  on  Nov- 
ember 4,  1539,  when,  after  vainly  striving  to  stave  off  the 
destruction  of  his  house.  Abbot  Melford  was  compelled 
to  resign  his  charge  into  the  King's  hands.  He  received 
a  pension  and  retired  into  a  small  house  at  the  top  of 
Crown  Street,  Bury,  where  he  shortly  afterwards  died, 
of  grief,  it  is  said,  at  the  calamity  which  had  overwhelmed 
his  house  and  Order. 

[78] 


CROWLAND 

G ROWLAND,  or  Croyland,  is  described  by 
William  of  Malmesbury  as  one  of  the  islands 
in  the  great  tract  of  fen  or  marshland  a  hun- 
dred miles  in  length,  which  stretches  from  the 
middle  of  England  to  the  eastern  sea.  The  ruins  of  the 
abbey  stand  about  half-way  between  Peterborough  and 
Spalding,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Welland,  which  drains 
off  much  of  the  water  of  this  district  into  the  Wash,  fifty 
miles  away.  In  this  spot  early  in  the  eighth  century  there 
settled  a  youth  of  high  family,  named  Guthlac,  who,  hav- 
ing renounced  the  profession  of  arms,  desired  to  live  a 
secluded  life  amid  the  solitude  of  the  Lincolnshire  fens. 
Shortly  after  his  death,  Ethelwold,  King  of  the  Mercians, 
determined  to  fulfil  here  his  promise  to  build  a  monastery, 
and  in  716  he  sent  for  Kenulph,  a  monk  of  Evesham,  to 
begin  the  foundation. 

This  was  the  commencement  of  Benedictine  Crow- 
land,  and,  if  we  can  believe  Ethelbald's  charter  as  given 
in  Ingulph's  Chronicle,  the  King  gave  £300  towards  the 
buildings  of  the  abbey  and  promised  £100  a  year  more 
for  ten  years  to  come.  He  had  granted  the  monks  the 
entire  island ;  but  as  it  was  small  and  the  land  very  inse- 

[79] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

cure,  he  caused  an  innumerable  quantity  of  oaks  and 
alders  to  be  driven  into  the  marshy  ground  round  about 
the  island  as  piles,  and  in  order  to  fill  up  the  ground  he 
had  earth  brought  from  Upland,  nine  miles  away.  In 
this  way  the  ground  was  made  sufficiently  solid  to  support 
the  stone  buildings,  which  at  once  began  to  arise  in  the 
fenland. 

In  870  the  Danes  ravaged  the  whole  country,  and  hav- 
ing defeated  Earl  Algar's  army  pursued  the  survivors  to 
the  very  door  of  the  monastery  at  Crowland.  The  com- 
munity hastily  retired,  carrying  off  in  a  box  the  body  of 
their  patron  St.  Guthlac  with  his  psalter  and  whip,  which 
is  called  elsewhere  St.  Bartholomew's  whip  and  is  repre- 
sented on  the  arms  of  the  abbey,  and  hid  them  in  Ancarig 
Wood,  where  there  was  a  hermitage.  The  plate  and 
altarpiece  were  then  let  down  into  the  well  of  the  cloister; 
but  the  latter,  which  was  much  prized  as  being  the  gift 
of  King  Witlaf  fifty  years  before,  and  which  possibly 
may  have  been  "  the  golden  veil  embroidered  with  the 
fall  of  Troy,"  specially  spoken  of,  would  not  sink,  and  was 
handed  over  to  the  charge  of  the  abbot  and  some  seniors. 
Thirty  monks  remained  behind  in  the  monastery  and  con- 
tinued to  carry  out  their  duties  as  before,  until  just  as 
Mass  was  over  the  Danes  broke  into  the  church  where 
they  were.  Oskitel,  the  Danish  king,  murdered  the  abbot 
with  his  own  hands,  and  the  rest  of  the  monks  were  tor- 
tured to  make  them  reveal  the  place  where  the  church 
treasure  was  hidden,  and  as  they  refused  they  were  put 
to  death  in  various  places  of  the  establishment.     Asker, 

[80] 


CROWLAND 

the  prior,  for  instance,  was  slaughtered  in  the  sacristy; 
Lethwyn,  the  sub-prior,  in  the  refectory,  and  one  only  of 
their  number,  Turgar,  a  boy  of  ten  years,  was  spared.  All 
the  tombs  were  broken  open  in  the  hope  of  discovering 
the  buried  treasures,  which,  however,  were  not  found. 
Being  disappointed  of  their  object,  the  barbarians  laid  the 
bodies  of  the  murdered  monks  in  a  heap  and  setting  fire 
to  them  burnt  as  their  funeral  pyre  the  church  and  mo- 
nastic buildings  on  August  28,  870,  three  days  after  their 
arrival  at  Crowland. 

After  leaving  the  abbey  the  Danes  set  fire  to  Mede- 
shamsted  Abbey,  now  known  as  Peterborough.  In  the 
confusion  caused  by  an  accident  to  some  heavily  laden 
wagons  the  boy  Turgar  escaped,  and  returning  to  Crow- 
land  found  that  the  monks  who  had  gone  to  Ancarig  had 
come  back  and  were  vainly  endeavouring  to  extinguish 
the  fire  which  was  slowly  consuming  their  monastery. 
Their  first  business,  on  learning  of  the  death  of  their  abbot 
and  prior,  was  to  choose  a  new  superior,  and  one  of  their 
number,  Godric,  was  unanimously  elected  to  the  office  of 
abbot.  He  was  almost  at  once  called  upon  to  assist  in 
removing  the  ruins  of  Medeshamsted,  and  when  doing  so 
he  erected  a  pyramidical  cross  over  the  bodies  of  eighty- 
four  monks,  who  had  perished  in  that  monastery  at  the 
hands  of  the  Danes. 

As  most  of  this  history  and  Indeed  most  of  the  story 
of  Crowland  depends  upon  the  Chronicle  of  Ingulph, 
now  admitted  to  be  a  composition  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, it  must,  of  course,  be  received  with  some  caution, 

[83] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

although  it  no  doubt  gives  the  traditional  account  of  the 
destruction  of  the  abbey  and  its  gradual  restoration  in 
the  time  before  the  Norman  conquest.  In  1076  the  Con- 
queror made  Ingulph  abbot  of  his  monastery  at  Crow- 
land,  and  at  the  time  he  took  possession  of  his  charge  he 
found  sixty-two  monks,  of  whom  four  were  lay  brothers. 
Besides  this  there  are  said  to  have  been  actually  in  resi- 
dence there  more  than  a  hundred  monks  of  other  monas- 
teries, who  were  called  comprofessi,  who  came  and  went 
apparently  as  they  liked.  When  there  they  had  a  seat 
in  the  refectory,  a  stall  in  the  church,  and  a  bed  in  the 
common  dormitory.  These  monks,  belonging  to  various 
destroyed  monasteries,  apparently  made  Crowland  a 
place  of  refuge  in  difficult  days.  At  this  time — ^A.  D.  1076 
— of  the  comprofessi  in  the  house,  ten  were  from  Thorney, 
six  from  Peterborough,  eight  from  Ramsey,  nine  from  St. 
Edmundsbury,  ten  from  Westminster,  fifteen  from  Thet- 
ford,  fourteen  from  Christ  Church,  Norwich,  etc. 

In  1091  a  fire,  of  which  Ingulph  gives  a  vivid  account, 
broke  out  and  destroyed  most  of  the  church  and  monas- 
tery. It  was  caused  by  the  negligence  of  the  proverbial 
plumber,  who  had  left  the  ashes  of  his  fire  to  smoulder 
after  doing  some  lead  work  on  the  tower.  To  repair  this 
great  misfortune  the  friends  and  patrons  of  the  abbey 
came  forward  with  such  generosity  that  Ingulph,  before 
his  death  in  1109,  was  enabled  to  see  much  of  the  mon- 
astery restored  and  preparations  made  for  rebuilding  the 
church,  over  the  blackened  ruins  of  which  a  temporary 
roof  had  been  placed.     In  1 1 14  the  first  stone  of  the  new 

[84] 


CROWLAND 

church  was  laid  at  the  east  angle,  and  various  people  of 
rank  laid  other  stones,  placing  money  upon  them  or  grants 
of  stone  or  wood.  The  foundations  were  laid  upon  mas- 
sive piles  of  oak,  and  many  labourers  came  forward  to 
assist  in  the  work  of  raising  a  worthy  temple  to  God, 
without  other  reward  than  that  of  the  satisfaction  of  tak- 
ing part  in  the  great  work.  Five  thousand  people  were 
present  at  the  feast  of  the  dedication;  this  assembly  in- 
cluded two  abbots,  two  earls,  two  barons  and  500  guests  in 
the  great  halls.  The  rest  were  entertained  in  the  cloister 
garth. 

During  the  wars  between  the  houses  of  Lancaster  and 
York  Henry  VI  came  to  Crowland  in  1460  and  remained 
there  for  three  days.  Some  time  after,  on  an  alarm  that 
the  northern  army  was  marching  upon  that  part  of  the 
country,  the  cloisters  and  buildings  generally  were  filled 
to  overflowing  with  household  goods  of  all  kinds  brought 
in  from  the  country  round  about.  In  1467  Edward  IV 
also  visited  Crowland  and  together  with  200  horsemen 
was  entertained  by  the  abbot. 

The  Perpendicular  northwest  tower  was  built  in  the 
fifteenth  century  in  the  ten  years  between  1460-70.  The 
beautiful  early  English  sculpture  of  the  legend  of  St. 
Guthlac  on  the  west  front  was  substituted  by  Abbot  Ralph 
de  la  March  (1255-1281)  for  a  portion  which  had  been 
blown  down  by  a  great  storm ;  the  upper  part,  which  had 
seven  tiers  of  canopied  images,  and  the  great  west  win- 
dow were  finished  in  1380.  In  January,  1470,  Abbot 
Litlington  gave  five  bells  to  the  tower,  which  was  begun 

[87] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

in  1427.  The  nave  clerestory,  built  without  any  trifor- 
ium  in  1405,  must  have  been  imposing;  it  is  now  a  ruin. 
The  monastery  buildings  lay  to  the  south  of  the  present 
remains ;  on  the  west  of  the  abbey  court  were  the  granaries 
and  bakehouse  built  by  John  de  Wisbech  about  1470;  on 
the  south  stood  the  lesser  guest  house;  on  the  east  the 
tailor's  and  other  shops  and  offices  and  the  hall  of  the  lay 
brothers;  on  the  north  was  the  main  gateway  and  the 
almonry.  The  infirmary  was  apparently  southeast  of  the 
church  and  "  the  great  guest  hall  on  the  west  of  the 
cloister  has  an  undercroft  of  three  alleys." 

Crowland,  like  most  of  "  the  great  and  solemn  abbeys " 
of  England,  came  into  the  hands  of  Henry  VIII  in  1539. 
The  site  of  the  monastery  soon  passed  away  out  of  the 
King's  hands;  and  the  ruin  of  the  buildings  would  have 
been  even  more  complete  than  it  now  appears,  had  not  the 
inhabitants  purchased  "  the  south  aisle  of  the  church  " 
for  £26,  and  at  the  same  time  given  £30  for  two  of  the  old 
bells,  to  save  them  from  being  broken  up  by  the  royal 
workmen. 

The  last  abbot  was  John  Briggs  or  Bridges,  and  a 
subsequent  examination  of  one  of  the  dispossessed  monks, 
who  "  was  his  confessor  and  one  of  his  executors,"  shows 
us  the  old  man  dying  away  from  his  ancient  home,  and 
pestered  with  questions  about  some  plate  which  he  had 
been  allowed  to  keep  and  which  was  in  "  a  spruce  cofifer 
by  his  bedside,"  when  he  was  breathing  his  last  a  few 
years  after  the  ruin  of  his  old  home.  He  was  the  end  of 
the  long  line  of  abbots  of  Crowland. 

[88] 


EVESHAM 

CHE  Benedictine  abbey  of  Evesham  was  in 
ancient  days  the  glory  of  the  fruitful  valley  in 
v^hich  it  stood.  Leland  calls  the  place  the 
horreum,  the  granary  of  Worcestershire,  and  a 
modern  vs^riter,  who  had  seen  the  country  in  spring,  white 
with  the  apple  and  cherry  blossom  and  in  the  autumn 
golden  with  the  hop  flower,  spoke  of  it  as  "  an  Eden  of 
fertility."  Here,  at  a  spot  where  the  Avon,  making  a 
sudden  sweep  round,  describes  more  than  two  parts  of  a 
circle,  on  the  peninsula  thus  formed,  stands  to-day  the 
town  of  Evesham,  which  owes  its  existence  to  the  abbey 
founded  in  the  year  701  for  monks  of  the  Benedictine 
Order. 

Although  there  remain  but  few  traces  of  the  original 
buildings,  in  the  height  of  its  glory  Evesham  with  its 
towers  and  turrets,  with  its  church  270  feet  long  and  its 
numerous  chapels,  with  its  cloisters  and  gables,  was  one 
of  the  largest  churches  and  must  have  been  one  of  the 
finest  monastic  establishments  in  the  country.  The  Nor- 
man gateway  of  the  precincts,  part  of  Abbot  Reginald's 
enclosure  wall,  a  portion  of  the  old  almonry  with  its  stone 
lantern,  above  all  the  Great  Tower,  built  or  finished  by 

[89] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

Clement  Lichfield  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  arch 
of  the  Chapter  House,  built  in  13 17,  are  all  that  have 
been  preserved  of  the  vast  range  of  buildings.  The  rest 
was  pulled  to  the  ground  and  swept  away  at  the  dissolu- 
tion so  entirely  and  so  immediately,  that  even  in  1540, 
two  years  only  after  the  event,  Leland  could  describe  it  as 
**  gone,  a  mere  heap  of  rubbish."  The  beautiful  tower, 
1 17  feet  high,  was  only  saved  from  this  same  dire  destruc- 
tion by  the  people  of  the  town,  who  purchased  it  from  the 
wreckers. 

The  story  or  legend  of  Evesham  goes  back  a  long  way. 
About  the  year  701,  St.  Egwin,  the  third  bishop  of  the 
See  of  Worcester,  founded  the  monastery  and  dedicated  it 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  in  response  to  a  vision  which 
he  had,  and  in  which  Our  Lady  is  said  to  have  instructed 
him  where  to  place  the  new  foundation.  With  the  name 
of  the  founder,  Egwin,  there  is  connected  a  somewhat 
strange  legend,  which  has  no  doubt  grown  in  the  telling 
from  some  fact  which  at  first  was  easily  to  be  explained. 
The  saint  was  twice  in  Rome,  and  in  the  spirit  of  penance 
so  common  in  those  far-off  days,  on  one  of  his  journeys, 
he  is  said  to  have  locked  fetters  on  his  legs  and  to  have 
thrown  the  key  into  the  Worcestershire  Avon.  This  may, 
of  course,  have  been  the  case,  but  the  story  certainly  tests 
the  credulity  of  modern  days  when  it  goes  on  to  say  that 
inside  a  fish  caught  in  the  Tiber  was  found  the  same  key 
by  which  the  fetters  were  removed  from  Bishop  Egwin's 
legs  in  Rome. 

The  second  visit  Egwin  paid  to  Rome  was  in  company 

[90] 


EVESHAM 

with  King  Kenred  and  King  Offa,  who  had  already 
proved  themselves  great  benefactors  to  Evesham.  This 
was  in  708,  and  it  will  be  remembered  that  the  two  mon- 
archs  whilst  in  Rome  renounced  their  crowns  and  took 
the  monastic  habit  in  the  Eternal  City.  St.  Egwin  on  his 
return,  following  their  example,  gave  up  his  See  of  Wor- 
cester and  became  first  abbot  of  the  new  monastery  of 
Evesham.  A  succession  of  eighteen  Saxon  abbots  fol- 
lowed, of  whom  little  more  is  known  than  their  names, 
and  in  the  uncertain  times  of  the  tenth  century  the  regular 
life  seems  to  have  ceased,  and  the  monks  appear  to  have 
given  place  to  secular  priests  living  a  sort  of  common  life 
together.  Whether  this  was  the  case  or  no  is  difficult 
to  determine  in  the  absence  of  records,  but  in  960  St. 
Ethelwold  certainly  appears  to  have  restored  the  monks 
by  command  of  King  Edgar. 

The  last  abbot  of  the  Saxon  line  was  Egilwin,  or 
Agelwy  as  he  is  sometimes  called,  who  succeeded  to  the 
abbacy  on  the  resignation  of  Abbot  Maunus  through  ill- 
health  in  1058.  Egilwin  won  for  himself  the  friendship 
and  respect  of  William  the  Conqueror,  and  ruled  the 
abbey  until  1077,  dying  before  he  was  able  to  carry  out 
his  desire  of  rebuilding  the  church  at  Evesham,  which 
then  stood  in  great  need  of  repair.  It  was  in  1074,  dur- 
ing his  abbacy,  that  Aldwin  of  Winchelcombe,  together 
with  Alfwy,  a  deacon  of  Evesham,  and  a  brother  named 
Reinfrid,  set  out  from  Worcestershire  to  restore  some  of 
the  monasteries  of  Northumbria  which  had  been  rendered 
desolate  by  the  Danes.     The  story  may  be  seen  in  Simeon 

[93] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

of  Durham's  History,  and  it  there  appears  that  these 
three  monks  took  with  them  from  Evesham  only  the  nec- 
essary books  and  vestments  for  Office  and  Mass,  which 
formed  the  burden  of  one  ass.  The  result  was  all  that 
could  be  wished  for,  and  their  mission  led  to  the  revival 
of  the  monasteries  of  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow,  of  Whitby 
and  of  Lastingham,  from  which  last  named  sprung  St. 
Mary's  Abbey  at  York.  The  connection  of  Evesham 
with  this  great  Benedictine  house  in  the  north  was  per- 
petuated by  the  special  union,  which  ever  existed  between 
them,  and  which,  in  the  words  of  the  annalist,  made  Eves- 
ham and  St.  Mary's  to  be  "  as  one  body  and  one  church." 

In  1077  William  the  Conqueror  appointed  the  first 
Norman  abbot,  who  at  once  commenced  the  building  of 
the  church  towards  which  his  Saxon  predecessor  had  left 
behind  him  "  five  chests  full  of  money."  This  treasure 
not  proving  sufficient.  Abbot  Walter  is  said  to  have  de- 
spatched some  of  his  monks  round  about  England  on  a 
collecting  tour,  with  the  shrine  of  St.  Egwin.  This  jour- 
ney produced  a  considerable  sum  and  enabled  him  to 
finish  the  work. 

Abbot  Walter  was  succeeded,  in  the  reign  of  William 
Rufus,  by  Robert,  a  monk  of  Jumieges  in  Normandy, 
and  during  the  time  of  his  rule,  about  1 100,  an  offshoot  of 
twelve  monks  was  sent  over  to  Denmark  to  found  a  Bene- 
dictine monastery  there.  This  was  undertaken  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  King,  Eric  the  Good,  and  of  a  bishop  named 
Hubald,  who  was  himself  an  Englishman  and  a  Bene- 
dictine.    Twelve    monks    departed  from    Evesham    in 

[94] 


EVESHAM 

response  to  this  demand  and  were  established  at  Odensee, 
which  always  recognised  its  dependence  on  the  parent 
house  in  England  and  to  the  end  continued  to  preserve 
constant  intercourse  with  it. 

An  interesting  document  of  about  this  same  period, 
preserved  in  the  Register  of  the  abbey,  affords  us  some 
information  as  to  the  number  of  monks  at  Evesham  and 
about  the  officials  employed  in  the  administration. 
There  were  then  sixty-seven  monks  belonging  to  the 
abbey,  including  the  twelve  in  Denmark,  five  nuns,  three 
poor  people  "  for  the  maundy,"  and  three  clerics  having 
the  same  position  as  the  monks.  The  number  of  the  serv- 
ants of  the  abbey  was  sixty-five,  of  whom  five  served  in  the 
church,  two  in  the  infirmary,  two  in  the  chancery,  five  in 
the  kitchen,  seven  in  the  bakehouse,  four  in  the  brewery; 
four  attended  the  baths,  two  were  shoemakers,  two  were 
in  the  pantry,  three  were  gardeners ;  one  attended  at  the 
gate  of  the  close,  two  at  the  great  gate;  five  worked  in  the 
vineyard,  four  were  fishermen,  four  waited  in  the  abbot's 
chamber,  three  waited  in  the  hall,  four  attended  on  the 
monks  when  they  went  abroad,  and  two  were  watchmen. 

The  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  at  Evesham  were 
periods  of  building  and  reconstruction.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  one  abbot,  Roger  Norreis,  a  Canterbury  monk, 
who  had  been  forced  upon  the  religious  by  the  King,  and 
who  proving  himself  worthy  of  their  suspicions  had  to  be 
deposed  by  the  Pope,  most  of  the  abbots  were  members 
of  their  own  house  and  ruled  well,  ever  adding  something 
to  the  glories  of  Evesham.     Of  all  the  rest  perhaps  the 

[9S] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

name  of  Thomas  de  Marleberge,  who  held  the  office 
from  1229  to  1236,  deserves  to  be  best  remembered,  not 
only  as  a  builder  of  the  walls  of  both  church  and  monas- 
tery, but  as  a  decorator  of  the  existing  buildings,  and  as  a 
great  collector  of  books  for  the  monastic  library. 

The  end  came  to  Evesham  in  the  sixteenth  century  as 
to  the  rest  of  the  religious  houses.  A  chance  survival 
of  the  Latin  Letter  Book  of  a  monk  of  the  monastery, 
who  was  also  a  master  in  the  Benedictine  college  of  Ox- 
ford, shows  that  studies  were  in  no  wise  neglected  at  Eves- 
ham at  the  close  of  the  long  centuries  of  its  history.  The 
abbot  Clement  Lichfield,  who  was  elected  in  15 13,  after 
disbursing  large  sums  to  Henry  VHI,  to  Wolsey  and  to 
Crumwell,  in  the  hope  of  propitiating  them,  resigned 
his  office  in  1538  rather  than  surrender  his  abbey  to  the 
King.  He  had  built  the  ornate  tower  which  still  survives 
as  his  monument,  and  had  added  two  chapels  of  consider- 
able beauty  to  the  churches  of  St.  Lawrence  and  of  All 
Saints  in  the  town.  He  was  succeeded  by  Philip  Haw- 
ford  or  Ballard,  who  was  appointed  in  order  that  he 
might  surrender  his  abbey  and  its  possessions  into  the 
King's  hands;  and  consequently  on  November  17,  1539, 
he  and  his  community  gave  over  their  property  in  a  deed 
of  surrender  to  the  royal  officials.  Amongst  the  names 
of  those  who  are  enrolled  as  members  of  the  community 
in  that  document  is  that  of  John  Feckenham.  This  monk 
subsequently  became  abbot  of  Westminster,  when  that 
foundation  was  restored  in  Queen  Mary's  reign,  and 
amongst  those  to  whom  he  gave  the  Benedictine  habit 

[96] 


EVESHAM 

during  the  brief  period  of  the  renewed  religious  life  at 
Westminster  was  one  Sigebert  Buckley.  Half  a  century 
later,  whilst  a  prisoner  for  his  religious  convictions  in  the 
London  prison  of  the  Gatehouse,  Buckley  clothed  two 
priests  with  the  habit,  and  thence  it  is  through  Evesham 
that  the  present  English  Benedictines  claim  an  unbroken 
line  of  succession  from  those  who  came  to  England  with 
St.  Augustine. 

Two  years  after  the  suppression  of  the  monastery, 
Clement  Throgmorton,  the  royal  receiver,  sets  down  the 
total  receipts  from  the  property  at  Evesham  at  £1,521 
IS.  lod  with  £70  arrears.  He  had  paid  the  pensions  of 
the  abbot,  the  quondam  abbot  and  thirty-two  monks  as 
well  as  an  annuity  to  "  the  instructor  of  the  boys,"  which 
was  £10.  At  various  times  £400  had  been  paid  to  the 
Crown  from  the  receipts  of  the  Evesham  dissolved  mon- 
astery. 


[97] 


FURNESS    ABBEY 

ON  the  peninsula  which  stretches  out  into  the 
sands  and  seas  of  Morecombe  Bay  in  Lanca- 
shire stands  what  remains  of  Furness  Abbey. 
Only  a  few  miles  away  on  the  sea  coast,  so 
close,  indeed,  that  the  bustle  and  noise  of  its  ever-clamor- 
ous iron  foundries  can  almost  be  heard  in  the  silent  ruins, 
is  Barrow.  The  contrast  between  the  two  places  is  ob- 
vious and  complete:  the  one  is  a  memorial  of  a  bygone 
age;  of  the  dead  past  of  a  life  of  seclusion;  of  calm  study, 
and,  above  all,  of  prayer.  It  is  a  record  of  an  intense 
belief  in  the  unseen  world,  and  in  the  intimate  connection 
of  the  future  life  with  the  present,  the  supernatural  with 
the  natural.  The  other,  Barrow,  is  the  type  of  modern 
enterprise,  modern  ways,  and  even  of  modern  beliefs;  in 
place  of  quiet  and  repose  there  is  noise  and  bustle,  and 
little  time  or  place  for  supernatural  ideals  amid  the  per- 
petual present  reality  of  work,  work,  work,  where  men 
are  ever  being  ground  to  lifeless  and  soulless  masses  of 
humanity  in  the  great  money-making  machines  of  the  vast 
iron  industry. 

The  monastery  of  Furness  was  first  founded  in  1124 
by  King  Stephen  before  he  had  come  to  the  Throne  of 

[98] 


FURNESS    ABBEY 

England.  The  monks  were  Benedictines  from  Savigny 
in  France,  and  they  were  first  located  at  a  place  called 
Tulketh,  near  Preston.  They  moved,  however,  in  1127 
to  Furness,  which  was  then  called  Benkangsgill,  or  "  the 
valley  of  the  deadly  nightshade."  A  poem  written  by 
one  of  the  monks  in  a  later  age  connects  the  place  name 
with  a  legend  telling  how  the  coming  of  the  monks  ren- 
dered the  poison  of  the  plants  harmless. 

In  the  time  of  Peter  of  York,  the  fourth  abbot  of  Fur- 
ness, Serlo,  the  abbot  of  Savigny,  which  was  the  mother 
house  of  Furness,  joined  the  Cistercian  movement,  and 
submitted  himself  in  all  things  to  St.  Bernard.  Abbot 
Peter  of  York  and  his  English  community  were  at  first 
unwilling  to  change  their  habit,  which  up  to  this  had 
been  that  of  the  Black  Benedictines,  and  he  personally 
journeyed  to  Rome  and  obtained  from  Pope  Eugenius 
III  a  declaration  that  the  Abbey  of  Furness  should 
always  remain  in  the  Order  in  which  it  was  established, 
notvvithstanding  that  the  mother  house  had  joined  the 
Cistercians. 

Matters  were  so  far  apparently  settled  when  Abbot 
Peter  was  persuaded — captus  (taken)  is  the  word  of  the 
chronicle — by  the  monks  of  Savigny  to  pay  a  visit  to  that 
house  on  his  way  back  to  his  monastery.  When  they  had 
got  him  at  Savigny,  he  was  induced  to  resign  his  abbatial 
office  and  become  a  monk  to  receive  training  in  the  Cis- 
tercian system.  He  succeeded  so  w^ll  that  later  on  he 
was  appointed  abbot  of  the  Cistercian  house  of  Quarre, 
in  the  Isle  of  Wight.     Meanwhile,  Richard,  a  learned 

[99] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

doctor  and  a  monk  of  Savigny,  was  sent  over  to  Furness 
as  abbot.  In  a  very  short  time,  by  his  teaching  and 
example,  this  Abbot  Richard  had  won  over  the  com- 
munity to  the  new  union;  they  again  acknowledged  the 
abbey  of  Savigny  as  their  mother  house,  and  in  a  brief 
time  had  become  part  of  the  Cistercian  Order. 

Furness  gradually  became  possessed  of  great  landed 
property.  Besides  the  large  peninsula  on  which  it  was 
situated,  and  which  it  owned  practically  in  its  entirety,  it 
had  lands  and  possessions  in  numerous  counties  of  Eng- 
land. It  is  said,  indeed,  that  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I  its 
revenue  was  estimated  at  £18,000  of  our  money.  The 
enclosure  wall  of  the  monastery  surrounded  sixty-three 
acres,  and  there  are  many  remains  of  the  old  buildings 
to  prove  their  extent.  The  present  hotel  is  said  to  have 
been  the  abbot's  lodging.  Of  the  church,  the  arch,  60 
feet  in  height,  on  the  east  of  the  crossing,  remains;  the 
late  Perpendicular  tower  at  the  west  end  is  17  feet  square, 
and  was  built  within  the  late  Norman  nave,  which  has 
aisles  and  is  160  feet  long  and  65  feet  broad.  The  tran- 
septs are  129  feet  across,  and  have  eastern  chapels.  The 
choir  extends  two  bays  into  the  nave,  and  the  sanctuary 
still  retains  the  platform  of  the  altar,  a  sedilia  of  five 
canopies,  and  aumbries.  In  the  wall  of  the  south  tran- 
sept may  yet  be  seen  the  dormitory  stairs  used  by  the 
monks  when  coming  to  the  night  office.  The  domestic 
buildings  are  of  a  date  early  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
On  the  west  side  of  the  cloister  was  a  vaulted  crypt  of  the 
guest  house;  on  the  east  is  the  Chapter  House  60  feet  in 

[100] 


FURNESS    ABBEY 

length,  and  the  parlour  and  cloister  aumbry.  On  either 
side  of  the  Chapter  House,  entered  by  two  doorways,  is 
the  common  room,  with  a  fireplace  in  it.  It  is  50  feet 
long,  and  is  of  fourteen  bays,  having  the  dormitory 
above  it. 

Furness  apparently  went  on  in  the  even  tenor  of  its 
ways,  without  making  history  in  the  usual  sense  of  the 
word,  from  the  time  of  its  foundation  till  the  sixteenth 
century.  It  had  at  all  times,  apparently,  a  large  com- 
munity, and  beyond  the  thirty  choir  monks,  which  was 
the  number  constantly  maintained,  it  sent  out  several 
colonies  to  make  new  foundations.  Thus  Calder  Abbey 
was  its  first  daughter-house  in  1134,  in  which  same  year 
it  established  Rushin  Abbey  in  the  Isle  of  Man.  Fifty 
years  later  it  colonised  Swineshead,  but  after  this  time 
these  offshoots  were  discouraged  by  the  Cistercian  Gen- 
eral Chapter.  Besides  the  English  offshoots,  moreover, 
there  were  several  Irish  foundations,  which  had  intimate 
relations  with  Furness,  and  even  claimed  to  have  had 
their  beginnings  from  it.  From  early  times  it  would  also 
appear  that  the  bishops  of  the  Isle  of  Man  were  wont  to 
be  chosen  by  the  advice  of  the  abbot  of  Furness  and  fre- 
quently from  his  community.  The  connection  between 
the  Isle  of  Man  and  Furness  was  always  close,  and  in 
some  indefinite  way  the  abbot  appears  to  have  enjoyed  a 
kind  of  jurisdiction  over  it.  Rushin  Abbey,  the  daugh- 
ter-house of  Furness  in  the  island,  enjoyed  the  distinction 
of  remaining  undisturbed  in  the  sixteenth  century  for 
some  considerable  time  after  the  rest  of  the  monasteries 

[  103] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

in  the  three  kingdoms  had  been  dissolved.  In  Ireland 
several  Cistercian  houses  were  either  cells  of  Furness  or 
looked  on  it  as  their  mother  house;  for  instance,  Fermoy 
or  De  Costro  Dei;  Ynes  or  De  insula,  in  county  Down; 
Holy  Cross,  in  the  diocese  of  Cashell,  and  one  or  two 
more. 

The  extent  of  the  possessions  of  the  abbey  entailed 
obligations,  and  required  that  the  monks  should  furnish 
a  number  of  soldiers  to  the  King  in  any  need.  The  num- 
ber is  put  at  1,200  men,  of  whom  a  third  were  horsemen. 
At  the  battle  of  Flodden  Sir  Edward  Stanley  commanded 
such  a  contingent  of  "  Furness  men."  Even  during  the 
time  that  the  abbey  existed  the  iron  ore  of  the  neighbour- 
hood was  worked,  although  probably  not  with  any  great 
vigour.  Still  there  are  records  showing  that  for  the  pur- 
pose of  smelting  the  ore  the  monks  had  erected  two  fur- 
naces on  Walney  Island,  which  stretches  out  at  the  foot 
of  the  peninsula  opposite  the  modern  Barrow-in-Furness. 
The  monks  also  were  possessed  of  ships  for  the  purpose  of 
trading  with  foreign  countries,  and  no  doubt  the  iron  ore 
or  smelted  iron  was  their  chief  trading  commodity. 

The  destruction  of  Furness,  as  one  of  the  larger  abbeys, 
came  at  a  somewhat  earlier  date  than  many  in  a  similar 
position  and  of  equal  importance.  The  fact  that  it  was 
able,  even  in  a  slight  degree,  to  be  connected  with  the  Pil- 
grimage of  Grace  gave  the  royal  officials  a  means  of 
exerting  pressure  upon  the  community  of  which  they 
were  not  slow  to  avail  themselves.  Roger  Pyle  was  at 
that  time  the  abbot,  and  he  and  some  of  his  community, 

[  104  ] 


FURNESS   ABBEY 

"  with  the  tenants  and  servants,  were  successfully 
examined  in  private  "  by  the  royal  agents  as  to  their  trans- 
actions with  the  northern  insurgents.  The  result  was 
summed  up  in  a  bill  of  accusations  against  some  members 
of  the  abbey.  The  abbot  at  the  time  of  the  visitation 
had  caused  his  monks  to  be  forsworn.  The  monks  of 
Sawley,  on  the  suppression  of  that  monastery,  had  been 
sent  back  to  Furness  as  their  mother  house,  and  directly 
the  rebellion  had  broken  out,  the  abbot  had  induced  them 
to  go  back  to  their  old  home  and  begin  their  religious  life 
again.  The  abbot  also  "  concealed  the  treason  of  Henry 
Sawley,  monk,  who  said  no  secular  knave  should  be  head 
of  the  Church."  These  accusations  were  framed  by  a 
friar  named  Robert  Legat;  and  a  priest  named  Roger 
Pele,  vicar  of  Dalton,  said  that  the  abbot  did  not  keep 
the  King's  injunctions;  and  one  of  the  monks,  John 
Broughton,  added  that  the  prophecies  of  the  Holy  Maid 
of  Kent  were  known  at  Furness.  A  tenant,  too,  declared 
that  the  abbot  of  Furness  had  ordered  the  monks  to  do 
the  best  for  the  commons,  "  which,"  runs  the  official 
record,  "  the  abbot  in  his  confession  doth  flatly  deny." 

As  regards  the  monks,  the  prior,  Brian  Garner,  and 
one  of  the  seniors,  John  Grayn,  were  reported  to  have 
assembled  the  convent  tenants  on  All-Hallows  Eve,  when 
the  latter  said  that  "  the  King  should  make  no  more  abbots 
there,  but  they  would  choose  them  themselves,"  etc. 

The  result  of  the  inquiry  held  at  Furness  was  reported 
to  the  King  by  the  Earl  of  Sussex.  A  sufficient  amount 
of  vague  accusation  had  been  obtained  against  the  abbot 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

to  have  secured  for  him  a  fate  similar  to  that  of  the  abbots 
of  Whalley  and  Sawley,  and  to  ensure  the  passing  of  the 
monastic  property  to  the  King  by  the  attainder  and  death 
of  the  abbot.  The  Earl  of  Sussex,  however,  hit  upon 
another  plan.  The  King  had  written  to  him:  "  By  such 
examinations  as  you  have  sent  us  it  appeareth  that  the 
abbot  of  Furness  and  divers  of  his  monks  have  not  been 
of  that  truth  towards  us  that  to  their  duties  appertaineth. 
We  desire  and  pray  you,  therefore,  with  all  the  dexterity 
you  can,  to  devise  and  excogitate,  to  use  all  the  means  to 
you  possible,  to  ensearch  and  try  out  the  very  truth  of  their 
proceedings  and  with  whom  they  or  any  of  them  have 
had  any  intelligence  .  .  .  and  our  pleasure  is  that  you 
shall,  upon  further  examination,  commit  the  said  abbot 
and  such  of  his  monks  as  you  shall  suspect  to  have  been 
offenders  to  ward;  to  remain  till  you  shall,  upon  the  sig- 
nification unto  us  of  such  other  things  as  by  your  wisdom 
you  shall  try  out,  know  further  our  pleasure." 

In  reply  to  this  communication  Sussex  wrote  on  April 
6,  that  it  was  impossible  to  get  more  out  of  the  abbot 
than  he  had  previously  done.  He  had  committed  to  safe 
custody  in  Lancaster  Castle  two  of  the  monks  (of  whom 
Henry  Sawley  was  apparently  one)  "which  was  all  we 
could  find  faulty."  Seeing,  therefore,  that  it  was  not 
likely  that  any  "  material  thing,"  done  "  after  the 
pardon,"  would  be  discovered  against  the  abbot  and  his 
monks  "  that  would  serve  the  purpose,"  the  earl  now  ex- 
posed his  own  plan  for  obtaining  at  once  the  rich  posses- 
sions of  Furness  Abbey  for  the  King.     "  I,  the  said  earl," 

[io6] 


FURNESS   ABBEY 

he  says,  "  devising  with  myself,  if  one  way  would  not 
serve  how  and  by  what  other  means  the  said  monks  might 
be  rid  from  the  said  abbey  and  consequently  how  the 
same  be  at  your  gracious  pleasure,  caused  the  said  abbot 
might  be  sent  for  to  Whalley;  and  thereupon,  after  we 
had  examined  him,  and  indeed  could  not  perceive  that 
it  was  possible  for  us  to  have  any  other  matter,  I,  the  said 
earl,  as  before  by  the  advice  of  other  of  your  council, 
determined  to  essay  him  as  of  myself,  whether  he  would 
be  contented  to  surrender,  give  and  grant,  unto  your  heirs 
and  assigns  the  said  monastery." 

The  position  did  not  admit  of  any  doubt.  It  was  a 
choice  between  death  and  surrender:  and  with  the  fate 
of  his  brother  abbots  clearly  before  his  mind,  and  with 
the  bodies  of  Abbot  Paslew  of  Whalley  and  his  compan- 
ions still,  perhaps,  swinging  before  the  gate  of  Whalley, 
it  is  not  surprising  that  Sussex  carried  his  point.  So  on 
April  5,  1537,  in  the  presence  of  Sussex  and  others,  Abbot 
Roger  Pyle  signed  the  official  paper  surrendering  Fur- 
ness  and  all  its  possessions  to  the  King,  because  of  the 
"  misorder  and  evil  lives,  both  unto  God  and  our  prince^ 
of  the  brethren  of  the  said  monastery." 

Immediately  this  document  had  been  obtained  from 
the  abbot,  three  knights  were  despatched  from  Whalley 
"  to  take  into  their  hands,  rule  and  governance  the  said 
house  to  the  use  of  your  highness  and  to  see  that  the  monks 
and  servants  of  the  same  be  kept  in  due  order  and  noth- 
ing be  embezzled."  Then  the  deed  of  surrender  was 
drawn  up  ready  for  the  signature  of  the  monks,  and  on 

[109] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

the  following  Monday,  April  9,  1537,  the  commissioners 
arrived  with  the  abbot  and  the  deed  already  prepared.  It 
was  read  to  the  community  in  their  Chapter  House,  and 
they  at  once  took  the  only  course  possible  and  ratified  the 
act  of  their  superior.  Thirty  monks  out  of  the  thirty- 
three  named  as  the  community  by  Sussex  signed  the  docu- 
ment, two  were  in  prison  in  Lancaster,  only  one  apparently 
did  not  affix  his  name  to  the  instrument  of  their  corporate 
extinction. 

No  pension  was  granted  to  the  monks  in  exchange  for 
the  surrender.  All  they  had  of  their  own  on  being  turned 
out  into  the  world  was  forty  shillings  each,  except  three 
out  of  the  thirty,  "  which  being  sick  and  impotent  were 
given  sixty  shillings." 

"  The  vast  and  magnificent  edifice  of  Furness  was  for- 
saken," writes  Canon  Dixon,  "  the  lamp  of  the  alt^r  of 
St.  Mary  went  out  forever,  and  in  the  deserted  cloisters  no 
sound  was  heard  but  the  axe  and  hammer  of  those  who 
came  to  cut  away  the  lead,  dash  down  the  bells,  hew  away 
the  rafters  and  break  in  pieces  the  arches  and  pillars. 
Thus  dismantled,  the  ruin  was  left  as  a  common  quarry 
for  the  convenience  of  every  countryman  who  could  cart 
away  the  sculptured  stones  for  buildings  a  pigstye  or  a 
byre." 

The  sales  of  the  monastic  goods  realised  the  great  sum 
of  close  on  £800,  and  bands  of  imported  workmen  were 
employed  for  a  long  time  on  the  work  of  wrecking  the 
buildings.  "  Also,"  says  the  official  account,  "  paid  to 
divers  and  sundry  labourers  and  artificers  hired,  as  well 
for  taking  down  of  the  lead  of  the  said  monastery,  with 

[no] 


FURNESS   ABBEY 

costs  of  melting  and  casting  the  same,  as  for  pulling 
down  of  the  church,  steeple  and  other  '  housing '  of  the 
said  monastery,  with  emption  and  provision  of  ropes  and 
other  engines  occupied  about  the  same,  £70  4s.  9d," 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  poor  felt  the  suppression  most 
keenly.  From  time  immemorial,  on  Maundy  Thursday, 
alms  had  been  bestowed  on  the  poor  at  the  abbey  gate, 
and  a  hundred  poor  boys  in  the  cloister  each  received 
more  than  a  shilling  of  our  money.  Yearly  on  St.  Cris- 
pin's Day  five  oxen  were  distributed  among  the  most 
needy.  Each  week  eight  poor  widows  had  their  bread 
and  beer  at  the  monastic  kitchen,  daily  the  poor  were  re- 
lieved at  the  almonry,  whilst  from  the  foundation  of  the 
house  till  the  dissolution  thirteen  poor  people  were  daily 
maintained  within  its  walls. 

It  has  been  computed  that  the  total  of  the  charities 
distributed  at  Furness  Abbey  whilst  the  monks  were  there 
amounted  yearly  to  a  sum  equal  to  £500  of  our  money. 

The  ruins,  which  are  now  the  property  of  the  Duke  of 
Devonshire,  are  religiously  cared  for,  and  they  cannot 
fail  to  exert  a  fascination  over  all  lovers  of  architecture 
and  of  the  bygone  ages.  Wordsworth  has  expressed 
what  he  felt  on  seeing  Furness  in  one  of  his  sonnets: 

Here,  where  havoc  tired  and  rash  undoing 

Man  left  the  structure  to  become  Time's  prey; 

A  soothing  spirit  following  in  the  way 

That  nature  takes,  her  counter-work  pursuing; 

See  how  her  ivy  clasps  the  sacred  ruin 

Fall  to  prevent  or  beautify  decay. 

And  on  the  mouldering  walls  how  bright,  how  gay 

The  flowers  in  pearly  dew  their  bloom  renewing. 

[Ill] 


Qllfapt^r  (Em 

FOUNTAINS 

^  M  -^T  is  hardly  possible  to  imagine  a  more  fascinat- 
I  ing  sight  than  the  ruins  of  Fountains  seen  in 

^P  the  distance  from  the  high  ground  above.  For 
beauty  of  position,  for  architectural  perfection, 
and  for  the  extent  of  the  still  existing  buildings,  the  abbey 
of  "  Our  Lady  of  the  Water  Springs,"  must  be  allowed 
the  first  place  among  similar  English  sights.  The 
obvious  care  now  bestowed  upon  the  preservation  of  all 
that  destroying  hands  have  left  adds  in  an  unexpected 
way  to  the  charm  which  the  remains  of  church  and  build- 
ings exert  over  the  mind.  No  tree  or  shrub  has  been 
allowed  to  grow  up  from  within  either  church  or  cloister; 
no  ivy  clothes  the  walls  or  clings  to  muUion  and  pillar; 
and  no  scattered  masonry  cumbers  the  ground.  All  is  in 
order,  as  far  as  order  is  possible  in  such  a  vast  ruin,  and 
the  effect  of  the  whitened  walls  and  towers  as  seen  from 
afar  is  to  add  a  somewhat  mysterious,  ghostly  character 
to  the  buildings.  Over  all  stands  out  against  the  sky  the 
great  tower  which  forms  so  distinguishing  a  mark  at 
Fountains,  and  on  its  cornice  the  visitor  may  still  read  the 
legend  cut  deep  in  stone:  Regi  sceculorum,  etc.,  "To  the 
Immortal  and  Invisible  King  of  Ages,  to  the  only  God, 
be  honour  and  glory  forever  and  ever.     Amen." 

[112] 


FOUNTAINS 

Fountains  owed  its  existence  to  the  movement  towards 
a  stricter  form  of  religious  life  which  was  initiated  at 
Citeau  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eleventh  century  by  St. 
Robert,  and  was  carried  to  perfection  by  Stephen 
Harding  and  St.  Bernard.  During  the  lifetime  of  the 
latter,  the  Cistercians,  as  they  were  called  after  their 
place  of  origin,  became  established  in  England,  and  the 
Order  quickly  took  deep  root.  The  first  house  in  this 
country  was  apparently  that  of  Furness  in  Lancashire, 
founded  by  Stephen  of  Blois  in  1127.  The  main  object 
aimed  at  by  this  branch  of  the  Benedictine  Order  was  to 
secure  the  greater  personal  sanctification  of  the  members 
in  the  stricter  observance  of  the  Rule.  For  the  purpose 
of  developing  the  contemplative  side  of  the  religious  life 
the  Cistercians  made  choice  of  lonely  valleys  or  other 
sequestered  spots  where  they  might  lead  a  life  of  solitude, 
free  from  care  and  distracting  thoughts.  Hence  came 
the  saying:  Bernardus  valles  amabat. 

In  Yorkshire  the  first  foundation  made  by  St.  Bernard, 
as  "  a  layer  from  his  noble  vine  at  Clairvaulx,"  was  at 
Rievaulx.  At  this  time,  in  some  of  the  Benedictine  mon- 
asteries of  England,  there  were  religious  souls  who  de- 
sired to  take  part  in  the  Cistercian  movement,  and  to 
leave  their  own  cloister  for  a  stricter  form  of  observance. 
So  when  the  mode  of  life  at  Rievaulx  became  known  at 
St.  Mary's,  York,  twenty  miles  away,  some  of  the  monks 
were  moved  with  a  desire  to  join  the  new  observance.  At 
first  there  were  but  seven  of  them,  and,  apparently,  the 
difficulty  they  experienced  in  obtaining  permission  to 

[lis] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

leave  their  monastery  was  mainly  owing  to  the  good  state 
of  their  own  house  of  St.  Mary.  With  opposition  and 
discussion,  however,  their  numbers  grew  until  there  were 
sufficient  for  a  Cistercian  foundation,  namely  thirteen,  of 
whom  one  was  the  prior.  The  abbot  at  St.  Mary's  hav- 
ing refused  absolutely  to  allow  his  monks  to  take  up  their 
new  venture,  they  appealed  to  Thurstan,  the  Archbishop 
of  York,  to  help  them.  After  convincing  himself  of  their 
genuine  vocation,  the  Archbishop  agreed  to  do  so,  and 
under  his  protection  they  left  St.  Mary's  Abbey  on  Octo- 
ber 4,  1 132,  taking  nothing  away  with  them  but  their 
religious  habits.  St.  Bernard  subsequently  wrote  to 
Abbot  Geoffrey  of  St.  Mary's  to  deny  that  he  or  any  of 
the  Clairvaulx  monks  had  suggested  or  inspired  this 
exodus  from  his  monastery,  but  at  the  same  time  he  indi- 
cated that  to  him  in  all  this  movement  the  working  of 
God's  Spirit  could  be  seen.  The  Saint  also  wrote  to  en- 
courage the  monks  of  the  York  abbey  who  desired  to  pass 
under  his*  rule,  and  to  tell  them  he  was  sending  Brother 
Geoffrey,  "  a  holy  and  religious  man,"  to  rule  over 
them  and  train  them  in  the  practices  of  the  Cistercian 
Order. 

In  the  meantime  the  twelve  monks  from  St.  Mary's, 
York,  with  Prior  Richard  at  their  head,  had  left  their 
cloister  and  were  shut  up  in  the  house  of  Archbishop 
Thurstan,  since,  notwithstanding  the  protests  and  cen- 
sures of  their  abbot,  they  refused  to  return  to  St.  Mary's. 
Finally,  the  Achbishop  gave  them  a  plot  of  ground  near 
Ripon,  which  had  previously  been  a  wild,  uncultivated 

[1.6] 


FOUNTAINS 

place.  It  was  situated  near  to  the  running  water  of  the 
river  Skell,  was  enclosed  by  rocky  ground  and  thorn- 
covered  hills,  and  was  a  fitting  place  in  which  to  build  for 
themselves  a  monastery  of  strict  observance.  He  ap- 
pointed Prior  Richard  their  abbot  and  blessed  him  upon 
Christmas  Day,  1132.  The  winter  was  upon  them  and  it 
was  passed  amid  great  privations,  for  there  were  as  yet  no 
buildings  whatever,  and  the  little  colony  was  lodged  be- 
neath a  giant  elm  which  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  valley 
and  possibly  also  under  some  of  the  great  yew  trees  which 
bear  the  name  of  the  "  seven  sisters,"  and  one  or  two  of 
which,  preserved  in  their  old  age  with  every  care,  still 
remain.  The  elm,  as  a  manifestation  of  God's  care  over 
this  little  flock,  is  said  to  have  kept  its  leaves  green  during 
the  whole  of  the  long  northern  winter.  There  the  monks 
all  lived  together,  twelve  priests  and  one  deacon,  and,  as 
far  as  might  be,  carried  out  the  regular  life  during  the 
dark  days  and  long  nights  under  the  branches  of  the  great 
elm.  The  bishop  provided  them  with  bread,  and  for 
drink  they  had  the  overflowing  water  of  their  stream.  So 
the  place  became  to  them,  Sancta  Maria  de  Fontibus — 
Our  Lady  of  the  Springs.  After  the  summer  had  come 
to  them  in  the  valley,  they  took  counsel  together  and 
determined  to  send  to  St.  Bernard  with  a  request  that  he 
would  take  them  under  his  care  and  make  them  associates 
of  the  celebrated  monastery  of  Clairvaulx.  This  the 
Saint  did,  and,  as  has  just  been  said,  he  then  sent  them  as 
their  guide  the  experienced  brother  Geoffrey.  Thus  was 
begun  the  great  abbey  of  Fountains. 

[119] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

The  little  band  quickly  grew;  seventeen  new  brethren 
arrived  almost  at  the  same  time,  and  of  these,  seven  were 
priests.  Alasl  the  resources  of  the  infant  community  did 
not  increase  with  their  numbers,  and  for  some  time  the 
lot  of  the  monks  of  Fountains  was  hard  and  indeed  well- 
nigh  impossible.  To  add  to  their  trials  and  misfortunes 
a  famine  everywhere  afflicted  the  land  at  that  time;  al- 
though the  abbot  went  out  of  his  valley  to  seek  for  food 
for  his  brethren,  it  was  not  forthcoming,  and  for  a  while 
at  least  the  community  had  to  subsist  as  best  they  could 
upon  the  leaves  of  the  trees  and  such  herbs  as  could  be 
found  in  their  valley.  Their  elm  tree,  as  the  chronicle 
says,  thus  at  this  time  furnished  them  with  food  as  well  as 
with  shelter. 

One  day,  so  the  story  goes,  whilst  in  the  straits  of 
poverty,  there  came  to  them  a  poor  man  asking  help  in 
Christ's  name.  The  porter  replied  that  they  had  nothing 
to  give  and,  indeed,  were  themselves  in  absolute  need; 
but  on  the  poor  man  persisting  in  his  request  the  monk 
went  to  his  abbot  to  report  the  case.  The  abbot,  finding 
that  there  were  two  loaves  left  in  the  house,  ordered 
that  one  should  be  given  to  the  beggar  in  full  trust  that 
the  Lord  would  Himself  make  provision  for  His  serv- 
ants who  relied  upon  Him.  Nor  was  his  confidence 
disappointed,  for  within  a  brief  space  two  men  arrived 
from  Knaresborough  Castle  with  a  plentiful  supply  of 
food  for  all  the  brethren.  Recognising  this  as  a  mani- 
festation of  God's  goodness  to  them,  they  gave  to  Him 
thanks,  "  Who  gives  food  to  those  who  fear  Him." 

[120] 


FOUNTAINS 

As  time  went  on  the  situation  of  the  little  band  of 
monks  at  Fountains  became  intolerable.  Poverty  they 
had  wedded,  but  not  famine  and  destitution.  So  Abbot 
Richard  went  over  to  see  St.  Bernard,  and  to  try  and  find 
some  place  in  fair  France,  where  they  might  be  able 
at  least  to  support  their  lives  whilst  serving  God.  But 
even  during  the  time  when  he  was  on  his  journey,  be- 
hold, the  long-looked-for  benefactor  appeared  at  Foun- 
tains in  the  person  of  Master  Hugh,  Dean  of  York,  who 
joined  the  community,  bringing  with  him  books,  money 
and  possessions.  Part  of  the  money  they  at  once  devoted 
to  assist  the  poor;  part  they  reserved  for  their  own  sup- 
port, and  part  they  employed  in  building  up  their  monas- 
tery. And,  as  is  so  often  the  case,  this  good  fortune  did 
not  come  alone:  first  another  canon  of  York,  Serlo  by 
name,  also  a  rich  man,  joined  the  community,  and  then  a 
second  canon,  called  Toste,  homo  jucundus  et  sociabilis, 
a  pleasant  and  sociable  man,  as  he  is  called  in  the  chroni- 
cle, followed  his  example.  Other  blessings  followed  in 
swift  succession ;  additions  were  made  to  their  property 
by  various  benefactors,  and  privileges  were  granted  by 
Kings  and  Popes. 

From  that  day,  writes  Serlo,  who  as  a  monk  was  now 
the  annalist  of  his  house,  "  God  blessed  our  valleys  with 
the  blessing  of  heaven  above  and  of  the  deep  that  lieth 
under,  multiplying  our  brethren,  increasing  our  posses- 
sions, extending  our  vineyards  and  pouring  down  the 
showers  of  His  benediction  upon  us.  .  .  .  The  Lord, 
as  the  Prophet  said,  was  a  wall  round  about  us,  on  the 

[I2l] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

right  hand  and  on  the  left.  He  permitted  no  man  to  hurt 
us  and  He  blessed  the  works  of  our  hands."  "  Oh  God  I  " 
says  Serlo,  in  heartfelt  thanksgiving,  "  what  perfection 
of  life  was  there  not  at  this  time  at  Fountains!  What 
emulation  in  virtue!  What  fervour  in  keeping  the 
Rule!  What  discipline!  Our  Fathers  were  become  a 
spectacle  to  angels  and  to  men;  and  they  impressed  on 
their  posterity  that  method  of  holy  religious  life,  which, 
with  God's  help,  will  be  kept  here  for  ever." 

Soon  after  its  foundation  the  Abbey  of  Fountains  was 
called  on  to  send  out  colonies  to  begin  new  houses.  In 
1 137  a  nobleman  named  Ralph  de  Merlay,  after  spend- 
ing by  chance  a  day  at  Fountains,  determined  to  build  a 
similar  abbey  near  his  own  property  at  Morpeth.  The 
result  was  the  establishment  of  Newminster  with  its  first 
abbot  from  Fountains.  In  time  the  house  became  the 
fruitful  mother  of  three  Cistercian  daughters  at  Pipe- 
well,  Sawley,  and  Roche.  The  next  year,  1138,  Kirk- 
stead  Abbey  on  the  river  Witham  and  Louth  Park  was 
also  founded,  the  two  colonies  leaving  Fountains  on  the 
same  day.  Again  in  1145,  at  the  prayer  of  Hugh  de 
Bolebec,  the  monks  of  Fountains  made  a  foundation  at 
Woburn.  And  in  1146  thirteen  of  the  brethren,  at  the 
invitation  of  the  bishop  of  Bergen,  who  had  visited  Foun- 
tains and  was  charmed  with  it,  went  over  into  Norway 
and  established  the  monastery  at  Lisakloster.  Their 
leader  in  this  expedition  far  afield  was  Ralph,  one  of  the 
original  community  which  had  gone  out  from  St.  Mary's, 
York.     In  his  old  age  Abbot  Ralph  returned  to  Foun- 

[122] 


FOUNTAINS 

tains  to  die,  and  it  is  pleasantly  said  in  the  chronicle  that 
there  by  God's  providence  "  an  angel  was  specially 
deputed  to  visit  and  console  him,  who  was  also  wont  to 
awaken  him  when  he  slept  too  long  at  night." 

In  the  following  year  1147,  three  colonies  were  de- 
spatched from  the  prolific  house  of  Fountains;  namely, 
Kirkstall,  Meaux,  and  Vaudey;  and  thus  in  the  space  of 
less  than  twenty  years  St.  Mary  of  Fountains  had  estab- 
lished eight  daughter  houses.  A  few  years  later  the 
Cistercian  General  Chapter  discouraged  this  multiplica- 
tion of  houses,  and  it  was  feared  that  the  Order  had  been 
growing  too  quickly  to  maintain  the  spiritual  vigour  of 
the  individual  monasteries. 

The  first  necessary  buildings  were  erected  at  Fountains 
during  the  administration  of  the  first  two  abbots  (1132- 
1139).  The  monk  Geoffrey,  who  it  will  be  remembered 
was  sent  over  from  Clairvaulx  by  St.  Bernard,  showed 
them  what  buildings  were  needed  by  Cistercians:  the 
great  cloister  with  the  church  on  the  north,  the  Chapter 
House  with  parlour  and  library  on  the  east,  with  the 
dormitory  above;  the  refectory,  calefactory  and  kitchen 
on  the  south;  the  store-house  with  dormitory  for  lay 
brethren  on  the  west.  Outside  the  central  group  were 
infirmary,  guest  house,  mills,  bakehouse,  etc.  The  first 
buildings  were  partly  of  stone  and  partly  of  wood,  the 
stone  coming  from  the  rocky  sides  of  the  valley  in  which 
they  lived. 

About  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  misfortune 
befell  the  abbey.     The  abbot,  Henry  Murdack,  became 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

involved  in  certain  disputes  about  the  succession  to  the 
See  of  York:  one  party,  deeming  themselves  injured  by 
the  adherence  of  the  abbey  to  the  other  side,  made 
their  w^ay  into  the  valley  and,  forcing  the  gates  of  the 
abbey,  sacked  it.  Much  was  ruthlessly  destroyed,  some 
things  plundered  and  carried  aw^ay,  the  rest  in  the  spirit 
of  wanton  waste  was  set  on  fire.  The  great  church,  built 
with  such  labour  and  at  such  a  cost,  was  burnt,  and  the 
very  altar  was  not  respected.  The  community,  says  the 
chronicler,  "stood  about  their  holy  place  and  saw  what 
had  been  raised  by  the  sweat  of  their  own  brows,  con- 
sumed to  ashes."  By  the  help  of  the  neighbours,  how- 
ever, much  of  the  damage  was  quickly  repaired,  so  that 
in  the  end  "  the  new  was  better  than  the  old." 

In  1 1 70  Robert  of  Pipewell,  on  the  death  of  Abbot 
Richard,  was  chosen  to  rule  at  Fountains.  He  was  evi- 
dently a  powerful  administrator  and  is  praised  by  the 
author  of  the  chronicle  for  many  virtues.  He  is  espe- 
cially commended  for  his  zeal  in  beautifying  the  church 
and  "erecting  sumptuous  buildings,"  but  what  special 
part  he  added  we  are  not  told.  Three  abbots,  all  named 
John,  ruled  Fountains  during  the  first  half  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  and  in  their  time  (1203- 1247)  the  fabric 
of  the  house  was  completed.  The  number  of  the 
brethren,  even  at  the  beginning  of  this  period,  had  in- 
creased so  much  that  the  choir  was  found  to  be  too  small 
to  contain  them  and  the  altars  were  not  sufficient  for  all 
to  say  Mass.  It  was  at  the  time  when  Abbot  John,  the 
first  of  that  name,  ruled  the  community.    The  days  were 

[126] 


FOUNTAINS 

evil,  and  it  was  at  this  period  that  King  John  was  enact- 
ing vast  sums  from  the  religious  houses  of  England,  and 
many  a  house  had  to  sell  even  its  altar  plate  and  pledge 
the  sacred  vestments  to  satisfy  the  royal  rapacity.  Never- 
theless, although  many  considered  him  rash,  the  abbot, 
trusting  to  God's  providence,  determined  to  pull  down 
the  east  part  of  the  church  and  rebuild  it  on  lines  of 
greater  magnificence.  To  his  large  ideas  is  commonly 
ascribed  the  new  chancel  and  the  plan  of  the  chapel  of 
the  nine  altars.  He  had  begun,  and  had  even  erected 
certain  columns  of  the  structure,  when  he  died.  The 
third  Abbot  John,  who  held  the  government  for  twenty- 
seven  years,  completed  what  his  predecessors  had  begun. 
Indeed,  a  whole  series  of  important  buildings  are  as- 
signed to  this  time,  including  the  chapel  of  the  nine 
altars,  the  new  choir,  the  reconstruction  of  the  cloister, 
the  infirmary,  the  guest  house,  the  pavement  of  the 
church  with  tiles,  the  bakehouse  and  the  bridge. 

At  this  point  the  delightful  chronicle  of  Fountains 
fails  us,  but  the  stone  records  of  the  buildings  themselves 
tell  us  that  little  was  done  to  the  material  fabric  from 
1247,  the  date  of  the  death  of  Abbot  John  III,  till  in 
1479,  when  another  Abbot  John — ^John  Darnton — made 
some  improvements  and  additions.  He  pulled  out  the 
old  windows  in  the  west  end  of  the  nave  and  in  the 
chapel  of  the  nine  altars,  and  put  in  decorated  ones 
in  their  place.  After  him,  quite  on  the  very  eve  of  the 
destruction  of  the  monastery,  Abbot  Marmaduke  Huby 
built  the  great  tower  which  still  looks  down  upon  the 

[127] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

desecrated  building,  proclaiming  the  faith  of  those  who 
raised  it  to  God's  glory. 

The  end  came  to  Fountains  with  startling  suddenness. 
On  a  Sunday  in  July,  1536,  a  preacher  who  was  main- 
taining at  Jervaulx  that  the  King  was  head  of  the  Church 
was  interrupted  by  one  of  the  monks  from  Fountains  who 
happened  to  be  there.  Cistercians  could  hold  no  such 
new-fangled  doctrine;  they  certainly  did  not  teach  that 
at  Fountains.  Parliament  had  just  suppressed  the  lesser 
monasteries,  and  although  it  had  at  the  same  time  de- 
clared that  the  greater  abbeys,  of  which  Fountains  was 
one,  were  above  suspicion,  there  were  many  who  saw  in 
the  fate  of  the  houses  under  £200  a  year  a  presage  of  the 
coming  general  suppression.  Although,  as  we  now 
know,  nothing  could  have  warded  off  the  rising  storm, 
it  was  no  doubt  a  misfortune  for  Fountains  that  at  so 
critical  a  time  it  should  have  had  a  superior  neither 
wise,  nor  competent,  nor  even  worthy.  Abbot  Thirsk's 
deposition  had  been  mooted  some  years  before,  and  he 
was  accused  of  dissipating  the  goods  of  his  house  and  of 
not  seeing  that  the  service  of  God  was  kept  at  Fountains 
as  of  old.  Layton  and  Legh,  the  King's  commissioners 
in  1536,  suggested  even  worse  things  about  him  and  com- 
pelled him  to  resign.  He  had  a  scanty  pension  assigned 
to  him,  and  took  refuge  at  Jervaulx;  there,  becoming  in- 
volved in  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace  in  some  way  not  quite 
obvious,  he  was  hanged  at  Tyburn  as  the  easiest  way  of 
getting  rid  of  him  and  his  pension. 

On  Abbot  Thirsk's  deposition  the  office  was  purchased 

[128] 


A    BRIDGE,    FOUNTAINS    ABBEY 


FOUNTAINS 

by  one  Marmaduke  Bradley  for  a  large  sum  paid  to 
Thomas  Crumwell,  the  King's  all-powerful  minister. 
The  commissioners  declare  that  he  was  one  of  the  wisest 
monks  in  England,  and  their  immediate  proof  of  their 
character  of  him  was  the  offer  he  made  through  them  to 
buy  the  abbey.  At  any  rate  Marmaduke  Bradley  se- 
cured a  good  pension  for  himself  by  surrendering  the 
house  into  the  King's  hands,  three  years  after  his  appoint- 
ment, in  November,  1539. 

Then  began  the  destruction.  The  abbot  went  to 
Ripon,  where  he  held  a  prebendal  stall;  but  the  prior 
and  his  thirty  brethren  were  quickly  expelled,  to  find 
their  own  way  in  the  world  and  to  face  the  coming  win- 
ter. They  were  despoiled  of  their  religious  habits,  were 
each  allotted  a  citizen's  gown,  and  were  then  set  outside 
their  own  gate  and  told  to  find  their  way  about  a 
world  which  many  of  them  had  left  long  years  before, 
and  under  circumstances  for  which  they  were  ill  pre- 
pared. 

The  gold,  silver  and  other  precious  ornaments  of  the 
shrines  and  altars,  the  chalices  and  cups  and  "  Jewells " 
generally  were  collected  and,  with  the  best  of  the  vest- 
ments and  copes  and  albs,  were  sent  up  to  London.  In 
all  939  ounces  of  silver  and  thirteen  ounces  of  gold  with 
precious  stones  were  thus  sent.  The  crowds,  which  as- 
sembled to  see  the  end,  as  at  the  daughter  house  of  Roche, 
no  doubt  helped  themselves  to  what  they  could  lay  their 
hands  upon;  the  servants  of  the  commissioners  probably 
took  more,  and  even  their  masters  did  not  disdain  to  an- 

[131] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

nex  an  article  or  two  of  the  plunder.  Then  the  windows 
and  doors  and  shutters  disappeared,  and  the  bells  were 
taken  down  and  broken  up  for  removal.  Finally,  the 
roofs — especially  where  there  was  lead — were  pulled 
down,  and  in  the  choir  and  nave  of  the  beautiful  church 
huge  fires  were  made  from  the  wood  of  the  stalls  and 
screens  and  altars,  to  melt  down  the  lead  into  pigs  and 
fodders  against  the  coming  of  the  King's  valuers.  When 
all  was  counted  up  it  was  found  that  the  church  goods 
fetched  only  £60  and  the  domestic  goods  £160.  There 
still  remained  on  the  ground  711  fodders  of  lead  and  ten 
bells,  weighing  10,000  pounds  in  all. 

As  regards  the  property,  Sir  Richard  Gresham,  father 
of  the  more  celebrated  Sir  Thomas,  wrote  to  Crumwell 
to  secure  from  the  King,  "  by  purchase  of  his  grace,  cer- 
tain lands  belonging  to  the  house  of  Fountains,  to  the 
value  of  £350  a  year,  after  the  rate  of  twenty  years'  pur- 
chase." "  The  sum  of  money,"  he  adds,  "  amounteth  to 
£7,000."  What  the  value  of  the  lands  really  was  it  is 
impossible  to  say,  but  one  obvious  result  of  the  dissolution 
was  the  wholesale  raising  of  the  rents  previously  paid  by 
the  monastic  tenants,  to  the  great  detriment  of  the  poor. 
An  instance  of  this  hardship  may  be  cited  in  this  very 
case  of  Fountains.  The  King's  valuers,  in  1540,  placed 
on  the  granges  belonging  to  the  abbey,  which  had  pre- 
viously paid  £156  14s.  4d.,  an  increased  value  of  £30,  or 
nearly  a  fifth.  Thirty-five  years  afterwards,  in  1575, 
Gresham's  increased  rental,  not  including  that  on  five 
of  the  granges,  was  £45  7s.  more  than  all  were  rented  at 

[132] 


FOUNTAINS 

according  to  the  valuation  of  1540,  or  a  rise  of  some  fifty 
per  cent,  on  the  whole. 

The  editor  of  The  Memorials  of  Fountains  for  the 
Surtees  Society,  after  noticing  the  facts  given  above,  says 
that  it  "  will  show  that  the  monks  were  just  and  merciful 
landlords,  and  that  the  lament  of  the  fall  of  the  abbeys 
in  these  parts,  which  old  Henry  Jenkins  lived  to  report 
to  the  Cavaliers  and  Roundheads,  might  have  partially 
arisen  from  more  material  reasons  than  a  change  of  re- 
ligion." 


[133] 


GLASTONBURY 

^^^^^HE  name  of  Glastonbury  carries  the  imagination 
m  C|  far  back  into  the  dim  past.  The  few  scattered 
^^^^V  and  grass-grown  ruins,  which  now  alone  remain 
of  the  once  vast  pile  of  buildings,  mark  the  site 
of  one  of  the  most  renowned  sanctuaries  of  the  Christian 
world.  The  history  of  this  sacred  spot  goes  back  to  days 
before  the  age  of  written  records,  for  it  is  founded  upon 
legends  which  connect  it  even  with  some  of  the  first  dis- 
ciples of  our  Lord  Himself.  The  story  of  the  place  is 
told  in  song  and  prose,  in  fact  and  fiction,  in  the  legends 
and  in  the  chronicles,  which  relate  the  beginnings  of  the 
English  people.  It  opens  with  a  vision  of  a  venerable 
man  from  the  tomb  of  Christ,  bearing  with  him  the  Holy 
Grail,  the  chalice  of  his  Master's  Supper,  and  planting 
in  the  soil  of  Somerset  his  staff  cut  from  some  Eastern 
thorn.    Tennyson  thus  alludes  to  this  ancient  legend: 

The  cup,  the  cup  itself  from  which  our  Lord 
Drank  at  the  last  sad  Supper  with  his  own, 
This  from  the  blessed  land  of  Aramat, 
After  the  day  of  darkness,  when  the  dead 
Went  wandering  over  Moriah — the  good  Saint 
Arimathaean  Joseph,  journeying  brought 
To  Glastonbury,  where  the  winter  thorn 
Blossoms  at  Christmas,  mindful  of  our  Lord. 

[134] 


GLASTONBURY 

And  the  long  story  of  the  place  ends  in  the  sixteenth 
century  with  the  violent  and  ignominious  death  of  an  old, 
white-haired  monk,  the  last  of  a  long  and  honourable  suc- 
cession of  abbots,  by  order  of  an  English  king  in  the  evil 
days  of  Tudor  despotism. 

Between  St.  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  the  hero  of  Glaston- 
bury's earliest  legend,  and  Abbot  Richard  Whiting,  the 
victim  of  an  English  king's  rapacity,  the  space  of  well- 
nigh  fifteen  centuries  intervened;  and  Chalice  Hill  and 
Tor  Hill,  which  still  look  down  upon  the  ruins,  and  the 
very  names  of  which  are  associated  with  him  who 
brought  the  Holy  Grail  to  our  shores,  and  with  him 
whose  gallows  crowned  the  height  by  St.  Michael's 
tower,  have  been  silent  witnesses  during  all  those  cen- 
turies of  a  great  and  varied  history.  The  memories  of 
the  British  Inyswytryn,  the  Saxon  Glaestingburge,  the 
modern  Glastonbury,  or  as  it  was  sometimes  called  the 
isle  of  Avalon,  include  the  names  of  Arthur,  the  British 
hero,  and  of  Alfred,  the  saviour  of  the  Saxon  race  from 
the  ferocity  and  rapacity  of  the  Danes.  Hither  too  came 
Gildas,  from  his  hermitage  on  the  Steep  Holme  away 
across  the  waters  of  the  Channel,  to  reconcile  Arthur  to 
his  Queen  Guinevere.    And  hither  also: 


To  the  island-valley  of  Avilion; 
Where  falls  not  hail,  or  rain  or  any  snow, 
Nor  even  wind  blows  loudly;  but  it  lies 
Deep-meadow'd,  happy,  fair  with  orchard  lawns 
And  bowery  hollows,  crown'd  with  summer  sea. 

[137] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

Hither  came  Arthur,  when  wounded  in  the  battle  of 
Camlin,  to  die  and  seek  for  burial  by  the  side  of  his 
Queen,  who  had  already  been  laid  to  rest  within  the  pre- 
cincts of  that  sanctuary.  Here,  centuries  later,  in  1191, 
King  Henry  H  caused  to  be  made  an  examination  of 
the  spot  pointed  out  by  the  Welsh  bards  as  the  place  of 
Arthur's  burial,  and  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  who  professes 
to  have  been  an  eyewitness,  describes  the  finding  of  a 
large  flat  stone  with  a  leaden  cross  underneath,  bearing 
in  rude  characters  the  inscription:  ^^ Hie  jacet  sepultus 
inclitus  rex  Arturius  in  insula  Avalonia" 

Beneath  this  again  there  was  discovered  a  large  coffin 
of  hollowed  oak  with  two  cavities,  one  containing  the 
bones  of  Arthur,  the  other  those  of  Guinevere.  They 
were  removed  to  a  handsome  tomb  in  the  church,  where 
they  remained  undisturbed  until  1278,  when  Edward  I 
and  his  Queen,  Eleanor,  kept  Easter  at  the  abbey.  On  that 
occasion  the  King  desiring  to  see  with  his  own  eyes  the 
relics  of  the  illustrious  British  King  and  his  Consort, 
ordered  the  tomb  to  be  opened.  Edward  himself  took 
out  the  relics  of  Arthur;  carrying  these,  and  Eleanor 
those  of  Guinevere,  with  much  ceremony  they  bore  them 
to  the  High  Altar,  where  the  people  were  allowed  to  in- 
spect them. 

In  fact  Glastonbury  was  already  old  in  its  traditions, 
and  its  memory  was  venerable  in  its  legends  before  the 
Briton  gave  place  to  the  Saxon.  When,  some  time  about 
the  year  650,  the  shrine  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Saxon  conqueror,  these  latter  were  no  longer  pagan  idola- 

[138] 


GLASTONBURY 

ters,  but  Christian  warriors,  who  venerated  the  sacred 
traditions  of  the  spot  no  less  than  had  the  conquered 
Britons. 

One  relic  of  this  early  time  was  preserved  through  the 
course  of  the  centuries  even  until  the  destruction  of  the 
monastery  in  the  days  of  Henry  VIII.  According  to 
tradition,  St.  David  of  Menevia  came  to  Inyswytryn,  as 
Glastonbury  was  called  in  British  times,  bringing  with 
him  precious  gifts  and  offerings  and,  it  is  said,  anxious 
to  make  the  sanctuary  his  last  resting-place.  To  show 
his  veneration  he  proposed  to  dedicate  the  church  to  our 
Blessed  Lady,  but  was  admonished  in  a  dream  of  the 
supernatural  consecration  of  the  shrine  at  its  first  erec- 
tion. St.  David  thereupon  built  a  second  church  near 
to  the  ancient  wooden  one,  and  dedicated  it  to  the  Mother 
of  God.  To  this  sacred  place  he  made  an  offering  of  a 
rich  altar  stone  of  sapphire  adorned  with  gold  and  costly 
gems,  a  present  from  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  and  this 
precious  gift  survived  to  the  end  in  the  possession  of  the 
Abbey.  During  the  contests  between  Saxon  and  Dane, 
which  caused  such  havoc  and  destruction  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  this  "Sapphire  altar" 
was  concealed,  and  for  a  time  its  hiding-place  appears 
to  have  been  forgotten.  Subsequently,  however,  the 
stone  was  discovered  in  a  recess  of  the  old  church,  and  it 
appears  as  one  of  the  abbey's  most  treasured  possessions 
in  the  inventory  drawn  up  by  the  commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  Henry  VIII  to  seize  the  property  of  the 
abbey  in  1539.     "  Item,"  it  is  recorded,  "  delyvered  unto 

[139] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

his  majestic  ...  a  supcratare  garnished  with  silver 
and  gilt,  called  the  Great  saphire  of  Glasgonburge." 

During  the  Saxon  period  the  abbey  increased  in  re- 
nown and  in  influence:  it  became  indeed  the  centre  of 
Christianity  in  southern  and  western  England.  Although 
we  have  little  direct  proof  of  the  fact,  it  seems  almost 
certain  that  wandering  Irish  scholars  came  over  to  Glas- 
tonbury, tarried  and  taught  there  for  a  while,  and  depart- 
ing left  behind  them  their  books  and  treatises  to  be  the 
treasured  possessions  of  future  generations  of  scholars. 
The  sanctuary,  probably  by  reason  of  its  position,  escaped 
complete  destruction  at  the  hands  of  the  Danes,  who 
passed  over  the  country  wrecking  and  plundering  monas- 
teries and  churches  and  overthrowing  the  Christian  altars. 
It  suffered,  however,  greatly:  and  it  was  at  this  period, 
at  the  lowest  depth  of  his  ill-fortune,  that  King  Alfred 
sought  shelter  in  the  neighbourhood  and,  at  least  accord- 
ing to  legend,  found  strength  and  courage  to  make  his 
successful  stand  against  the  dreaded  Dane  in  a  vision 
which  came  to  him  in  the  sanctuary  at  Glastonbury. 

In  the  tenth  century  the  abbey  was  ruled  by  one  who 
not  only  shed  a  glory  over  it  by  the  holiness  of  his  life  and 
by  his  abilities,  but  who  was  also  called  upon  to  shape 
the  destinies  of  his  country.  This  was  the  celebrated  St. 
Dunstan,  who,  born  almost  under  the  shadow  of  the  mon- 
astery, in  his  youth  became  a  monk  there.  He  subse- 
quently as  abbot  did  much  to  rebuild  the  walls  of  the 
sanctuary,  and  to  implant  in  the  souls  of  his  brethren  a 
love  for  the  true  principles  of  the  Benedictine  method 

[140] 


GLASTONBURY 

of  life.  For  a  while  Dunstan,  destined  for  a  more  ex- 
tended sphere  of  usefulness,  found  peace  and  true  happi- 
ness in  the  secluded  cloister  life  at  Glastonbury.  His 
biographers  picture  him  for  us  as  sitting  in  the  corridors 
of  the  abbey  with  the  brethren;  as  walking  with  a  com- 
panion about  the  enclosure  leaning  on  a  staff;  as  visiting 
the  cells  and  offices  to  see  that  all  was  in  order;  as  super- 
intending the  building  and  ornamentation  of  the  abbey 
which  under  his  care  was  then  rising  from  its  ruins;  as 
even  personally  watching  over  the  arrangements  of  the 
kitchen  and  other  domestic  concerns ;  or  as  rising  before 
the  day  had  dawned,  to  copy,  study  or  revise  the  manu- 
scripts of  his  house,  or  to  kneel  motionless  in  the  church 
with  hands  lifted  heavenwards  and  face  moist  with  tears. 
All  agree  in  describing  his  kindly  genial  demeanour  to 
others,  his  gentle  yet  firm  method  of  teaching  and  his 
special  love  for  boys.  After  a  period  of  perhaps  fifteen 
years  spent  in  his  beloved  home  at  Glastonbury,  and  in 
his  best-loved  occupations  of  the  cloistered  life,  Dunstan 
became  Bishop  of  Winchester,  and  then  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  But  amidst  all  the  occupations  for  Church 
and  State  which  engrossed  the  greater  part  of  his  life, 
he  never  forgot  his  monastic  home,  and  his  name  has 
ever  been  irrevocably  associated  with  Glastonbury. 

During  the  closing  period  of  the  struggle  between 
Saxon  and  Dane  in  England,  in  the  first  decades  of  the 
eleventh  century,  the  sanctuary  was  honoured  by  the  mon- 
archs  of  both  dynasties.  Edmund  Ironside  enriched  the 
abbey  with  land  and  possessions  and  when,  after  valiant 

[143] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

though  vain  struggles,  he  died  for  his  Saxon  fatherland, 
his  body  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  spot  he  had  chosen  for 
his  tomb  in  St.  Dunstan's  Church.  To  Glastonbury  also 
in  1030  came  King  Canute,  his  Danish  successor:  and 
here,  after  confirming  every  gift  and  privilege  granted 
to  the  place  by  his  Saxon  predecessors,  he  knelt  in  prayer 
at  the  tomb  of  his  rival  and  spread  over  it  a  covering  en- 
riched with  the  embroidery  of  skilled  Saxon  ladies.  Ten 
years  later  King  Hardicanute  testified  his  devotion  to  the 
hallowed  spot  by  the  present  of  a  superb  shrine  to  hold 
the  relics  of  St.  Benignus. 

The  Norman  Conquest  brought  difficulties  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  house.  It  was  part  of  the  Conqueror's 
policy  to  replace  Saxon  bishops  and  abbots  by  Norman 
prelates  wherever  this  could  be  done.  So  here,  as  Glas- 
tonbury, the  Saxon  abbot  Ailnoth  was  made  to  give  place 
to  the  Norman  Thurstan.  Ailnoth  and  several  of  the 
monks  of  his  house  were  interned  by  Lanfranc's  order  at 
Canterbury  and  at  the  same  time  a  not  inconsiderable 
portion  of  the  monastic  estate  was  distributed  amongst 
the  foreign  followers  of  William.  The  imposition  of 
Norman  superiors  over  them  must  obviously  have  been 
everywhere  distasteful  to  the  English  monks.  The  very 
presence  in  their  midst  of  an  alien  abbot  was  a  standing 
reminder  of  the  fallen  fortunes  of  the  English  race;  and 
in  the  case  of  Glastonbury  this  not  unnatural  resentment 
was  aggravated  by  the  imperious  temper  and  inconsid- 
erate disposition  of  the  individual  chosen  by  the  King 
to  rule  them,  and  by  his  determination  to  uproot  all  old 

[144] 


GLASTONBURY 

English  customs  and  traditions,  in  order  to  impose  upon 
them  what  at  least  the  monks  considered  to  be  new-fan- 
gled Norman  notions  of  monasticism.  An  attempt  made 
to  force  the  Glastonbury  monks  to  adopt  the  chant  of  one 
William  of  Fescamp  in  place  of  what  they  had  been  ac- 
customed to,  and  which  rightly  or  wrongly  they  regarded 
as  the  music  they  had  received  from  Rome  itself,  led  to 
a  refusal  of  the  monks  to  obey  in  this  matter.  Abbot 
Thurstan  sent  for  armed  laymen  into  the  Chapter  House 
to  coerce  them  by  a  show  of  force.  The  monks  took 
refuge  in  the  church,  out  of  which  the  abbot's  armed  men 
strove  to  drag  them.  This  at  first  failed,  and  the  monks 
took  refuge  in  the  sanctuary,  only  to  be  fired  upon  by 
the  arrows  of  the  Frenchmen.  In  the  end  the  laymen 
rushed  in  and  regardless  of  the  sanctity  of  the  place 
^'  slew  some  of  the  monks  and  wounded  many  more,  so 
that  blood  ran  down  from  the  altar  on  to  the  steps,  and 
from  the  steps  to  the  floor."  "  Three,"  adds  the  chron- 
icle, "  were  smitten  to  death  and  eighteen  wounded." 

The  horror  caused  by  this  scandal  led  to  the  removal 
of  Abbot  Thurstan  by  order  of  William  the  Conqueror; 
and  for  a  time  there  was  peace.  The  Norman  abbot, 
however,  bided  his  time  at  Caen,  and  taking  advantage 
of  King  Rufus's  empty  cofifers,  he  offered  that  monarch 
500  pounds  of  silver  for  permission  to  return  to  Glaston- 
bury. His  reappearance  immediately  brought  on  fresh 
disturbances.  Many  of  the  monks  sought  shelter  in 
neighbouring  monasteries,  and  did  not  return  until  the 
appointment  of  Herlewyn  on  Thurstan's  death. 

[145] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

In  1 1 26  Henry  of  Blois,  the  nephew  of  King  Henry  I, 
became  abbot  of  Glastonbury,  and  although  he  was  made 
Bishop  of  Winchester  after  only  three  years  of  rule,  he 
obtained  leave  to  retain  the  emoluments  of  his  abbacy. 
He  lived  to  enjoy  these  revenues  for  forty-five  years, 
but  in  the  main  he  spent  them  upon  the  reconstruction 
of  the  church  and  monastery.  Adam  of  Domerham,  the 
chronicler  of  the  house,  records  that  "  he  built  the  bell 
tower,  the  Chapter  House,  cloister,  lavatory,  refectory 
and  dormitory;  also  the  infirmary  with  its  chapel;  a 
splendid  large  palace;  a  spacious  gateway,  remarkable 
for  its  squared  stones;  a  large  brew-house,  and  stables  for 
many  horses."  These  he  erected  right  from  the  founda- 
tion to  their  completion,  and  over  and  "  besides  these 
works  he  gave  many  princely  ornaments  to  the  Church." 

King  Henry  H  refused  to  allow  the  monks  to  elect  a 
superior  on  the  death  of  Bishop  de  Blois,  but  he  sent  an 
official  to  manage  the  monastic  revenues,  which  he  kept 
in  his  own  hands.  During  this  time,  and,  indeed,  not 
very  long  after  the  death  of  the  bishop,  a  fire  destroyed 
most  of  the  monastic  buildings.  This  happened  in  11 84, 
and  the  old  monastic  chronicler  thus  bemoans  the  dis- 
aster: "  In  the  following  summer,  that  is  to  say  on  St. 
Urban's  day  [May  25,  1184],  the  whole  of  the  monastery, 
except  a  chamber  constructed  in  the  Chapel  by  Abbot 
Robert,  into  which  the  monks  afterwards  betook  them- 
selves, and  the  bell-tower  built  by  Bishop  Henry,  was 
consumed  by  fire.  The  beautiful  buildings  lately  erected 
by  Henry  of  Blois  and  the  Church   a  place  so  venerated 

[146] 


GLASTONBURY 

by  all  and  the  shelter  of  so  many  saints,  were  reduced  to 
ashes.  What  sorrow  was  suffered  I  What  groans  arose! 
What  tears  were  shed  as  the  monks  saw  what  had  taken 
place,  and  pondered  over  the  losses  they  had  suffered. 
Their  precious  treasures,  not  only  the  gold  and  silver,  but 
the  stuffs  and  silks,  the  books  and  other  ecclesiastical  orna- 
ments were  thrown  into  a  state  of  confusion  which  must 
bring  tears  to  the  eyes  even  of  those  who  far  away  do  but 
hear  of  these  things." 

King  Henry  II  determined  to  restore  Glastonbury 
out  of  the  monastic  revenues  which  he  still  kept  in  his 
hands,  and  which  were  administered  by  the  King's  offi- 
cial, FitzStephen.  In  the  royal  charter  granted  in  1184, 
Henry  says:  "  I,  laying  the  foundation  of  the  church  at 
Glastonbury,  which  was  reduced  to  ashes  whilst  it  was  in 
my  hands,  have  determined  to  repair  it  either  by  myself 
or  my  heirs."  Up  to  the  time  of  the  fire  the  old  church 
or  lady  chapel  had  remained,  as  originally  built,  a 
wooden  structure.  According  to  a  tradition  in  the  place, 
St.  Paulinus  had  not  dared  to  touch  what  even  in  his  day 
was  regarded  as  a  most  sacred  monument  of  antiquity, 
and  to  preserve  it  had  cased  it  in  boards  lined  with  lead. 
When,  in  708,  Ina  King  of  Wessex  had  granted  his 
charter  of  privileges  to  the  abbey,  in  order  to  render  the 
act  more  solemn,  he  signed  it  in  the  lignea  Basilica, 
which,  following  the  advice  of  St.  Aldhelm,  he  refrained 
from  attempting  even  to  beautify.  This  cherished  relic 
of  antiquity  was  totally  destroyed  by  the  fire  of  1 184,  and 
upon  the  site  of  the  old  wooden  structure  was  built  the 

[149] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

present  lady  chapel,  now  often  miscalled  "  St.  Joseph's 
Chapel."  This  beautiful  specimen  of  thirteenth-century 
Gothic  architecture  was  finished  in  1216,  and  the  chron- 
icler, Adam  de  Domerham,  thus  records  the  fact:  "  He 
[King  Henry  H]  completed  the  church  of  squared  stones 
of  the  most  splendid  work,  in  the  place  where  from  the 
beginning  the  old  church  had  stood,  sparing  nothing  that 
could  add  to  its  ornamentation." 

The  greater  church,  dedicated  to  SS.  Peter  and  Paul, 
was  only  beginning  to  rise  from  its  ashes  when  Henry 
died.  This  delayed  the  progress  of  reconstruction,  and 
the  vast  building  of  which  only  a  very  inadequate  idea 
may  be  formed  by  the  ivy-grown  arcaded  walls,  the 
pointed  windows  and  great  piers,  which  lift  two  portions 
of  a  springing  keyless  arch  skyward,  was  carried  out  by 
a  succession  of  abbots  during  the  thirteenth  and  four- 
teenth centuries.  "  Standing  on  the  greensward  in  the 
centre  of  the  nave,  in  front  of  the  ruins  of  the  great  arch," 
says  a  modern  writer,  "  the  eye  cannot  help  filling  in  the 
missing  structure.  Three  other  great  arches  rise  up  to 
join  their  survivor,  and  to  support  the  vaulting  of  the 
cental  tower,  the  transepts  with  triforium  and  clerestory 
branch  off  right  and  left,  through  the  screen  with  its 
rood  "  and  Mary  and  John,  "  the  vista  of  the  choir  con- 
verges on  the  High  Altar  and  reredos,  upon  which  the 
mellow  light  of  the  windows  beyond  cast  soft  blended 
colour.  The  twenty  pillars  of  the  nave  lift  up  their 
arches  to  the  arcading  of  the  triforium,  from  which 
springs  the  decorated  groining  of  the  roof;  tracery  and 

[■so] 


GLASTONBURY 

moulding,  panel  and  shaft,  colour  and  gold,  tomb  and 
brass  fill  in  the  picture;  surely  these  are  mailed  knights 
kneeling,  and  sturdy  burghers,  and  women  in  homespun, 
and  arch-eyed  children  scattered  over  the  glistening  tiles 
of  the  pavement;  the  hooded  monks  glide  in,  the  sanc- 
tuary glitters  with  silk  and  embroidery,  the  organ  rolls 
its  echoes  through  the  arches,  chasing  the  fumes  of  the 
incense.  A  sudden  hush,  and  the  reverie  has  ended,  and 
you  stand,  with  the  blue  sky  above,  on  the  soft  green- 
sward of  the  nave  leading  up  grass-green  steps  to  the  soft 
sward  of  the  sanctuary,  and  the  great  arch  looks  down  on 
you  while  ivy  and  shrub  cling  to  their  foothold  in  its 
mouldings  and  crumbling  masonry." 

If  the  reconstruction  of  the  church  of  Glastonbury 
after  the  fire  went  on  slowly  enough  during  the  two  hun- 
dred years  that  followed  the  catastrophe,  the  abbots  who 
ruled  the  destinies  of  the  abbey  during  that  period  and 
after,  vie  with  one  another  in  collecting  plate  and  jewels, 
missals  and  choir-books,  vestments  and  copes  and  hang- 
ings with  which  to  render  the  ceremonial  at  Glastonbury 
more  worthy  of  the  worship  carried  out  within  the  newly 
built-up  walls,  and  to  make  the  place  resplendent  with 
all  that  art  and  skill  and  English  craft  could  produce. 
As  one  reads  the  lists  of  precious  gifts  and  cunningly 
fashioned  plate,  of  the  silks  and  brocades  embroidered  by 
English  artists  and  enriched  with  needlework  imagery 
and  ornament,  one  can  but  sigh  to  think  of  the  wanton  de- 
struction which  swept  away  all  these  art  treasures  with- 
out leaving  even  a  trace  of  a  collection  which  must  have 


THE  GREATER  ABBEYS 

been  second  to  none  of  the  ecclesiastical  treasuries  of 
Europe. 

The  end  came  to  the  glories  of  Glastonbury  as  it  came 
to  the  rest  of  the  monastic  establishments  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VHI.  On  a  charge  of  resisting  the  King's  de- 
sires, the  venerable  abbot,  Richard  Whiting,  doomed  to 
death  before  inquiry,  was  hanged  with  two  of  his  brethren 
on  the  hill  which  still  overlooks  the  ruins  of  this  once 
iamous  abbey. 


[IS2] 


GLOUCESTER 

^^^^^HE  waters  of  the  Severn  seem  in  olden  times  to 
m  C|  have  possessed  some  subtle  attraction  for  the 
^^^^V  Order  of  St.  Benedict.  On  the  river's  banks,  or 
at  any  rate  in  the  valley  from  which  it  collects 
its  tributary  streams,  from  Gloucester  to  Shrewsbury, 
stood  Tewkesbury,  Pershore,  Evesham,  Malvern,  and 
Worcester — seven  as  fine  and  as  glorious  monasteries  as 
it  is  possible  to  find  in  England.  Gloucester,  the  first 
in  order,  is  in  many  ways  the  finest  of  this  series;  of  some 
of  them,  alas!  little  now  remains  to  show  what  they  were 
in  the  days  of  their  glory.  The  external  effect  of  Glou- 
cester is  somewhat  marred  by  the  long  depressed  roof  of 
the  nave,  which  is  set  at  a  level  lower  than  that  of  the 
choir  and  presbytery,  but  the  superb  central  tower,  which 
is  crowned  with  open-work  parapets  and  pinnacles,  pre- 
vents the  eye  from  dwelling  on  this  defect.  "  Glou- 
cester," says  a  modern  writer,  "  contains  some  of  the 
choicest  triumphs  of  Gothic  art,  and  numerous  instances 
of  the  most  ingenious  contrivances  of  mechanical  ability, 
taste  and  skill." 

The  abbey  of  St.  Peter^s,  Gloucester,  was  founded  in 
Saxon  times  about  the  year  679;  and  in  process  of  time  it 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

counted  no  fewer  than  five  cells  under  its  jurisdiction, 
Ewias,  Ewenny,  Hereford,  Kilpeck  and  Bromfield. 
Wulphere,  the  first  Christian  King  of  Mercia,  is  said  to 
have  commenced  the  work,  which  was  carried  on  by  his 
brother  and  successor  Ethelred,  who  somewhat  later  laid 
aside  his  crown  to  become  a  monk  at  Bardney.  History 
relates  that  in  order  to  insure  the  continuation  of  the 
work  after  he  had  taken  the  cowl,  he  employed  his 
nephew  Osric,  who  ultimately,  by  the  advice  and  help  of 
Archbishop  Theodore  and  of  Basil,  first  bishop  of  Wor- 
cester, constituted  his  sister  Kyneburgh  the  first  abbess. 
She  was  blessed  by  Bishop  Basil,  and  ruled  the  convent 
of  St.  Peter's,  Gloucester,  for  twenty-nine  years. 

To  Kyneburgh  succeeded  Edburga,  widow  of  Wul- 
phere, the  original  founder  of  Gloucester.  She  resigned 
her  royal  state,  and  in  time,  becoming  second  abbess  of 
St.  Peter's  and  ruling  it  for  twenty-five  years,  was  buried 
near  her  predecessor  Kyneburgh  in  735.  She  was  fol- 
lowed in  her  office  by  Eva,  the  wife  of  Wulfere,  son  of 
Penda,  who  died  and  was  buried  at  Gloucester  in  767. 

From  this  time  the  abbesses  disappear  from  history. 
During  the  wars  which  now  commenced  between  Eg- 
bert, King  of  Wessex,  and  the  Mercians,  the  nuns  are 
supposed  to  have  left  their  convent,  and  for  a  period  of 
more  than  fifty  years  it  remained  deserted.  After  that 
time,  when  King  Bearnulph  of  Mercia  came  to  the 
throne,  seeing  the  desolate  state  of  the  place,  he  rebuilt 
the  monastery,  but  changed  it  into  a  house  or  college  for 
secular  priests.     This  arrangement  continued  till   1022, 

[156] 


GLOUCESTER    CATHEDRAL!     THIC    CHOIK 


GLOUCESTER 

when  King  Canute,  on  the  representation  of  St.  Wulstan, 
Bishop  of  Worcester,  placed  Benedictine  monks  there, 
and  Edric  was  blessed  as  the  first  abbot  of  Gloucester. 

At  first  the  foundation  did  not  appear  to  prosper,  and 
it  was  not  until  William  the  Conqueror  in  1072  ap- 
pointed a  Norman  monk,  Serlo,  that  the  success  of  the 
work  seems  to  have  been  secured.  At  his  accession  Serlo 
is  said  to  have  found  but  two  monks  of  full  age  and  eight 
youths  in  the  house,  and  at  his  death  in  1104  to  have  left 
a  hundred  professed  religious.  In  1082  William  the 
Conqueror  passed  Christmas  time  at  the  monastery,  and 
three  years  later  the  church  was  burnt,  with  a  consider- 
able part  of  the  city,  by  the  adherents  of  Robert  of  Nor- 
mandy. Abbot  Serlo  set  himself  to  repair  the  loss  with 
characteristic  energy;  on  June  29,  1089,  the  first  stone  was 
laid,  and  on  July  15,  iioo,  the  dedication  of  the  new 
church  was  celebrated  by  the  bishops  of  Worcester, 
Rochester,  Hereford,  and  Bangor.  The  Norman  pillars 
of  the  nave  built  at  this  time  still  survive.  They  are 
round,  and  so  gigantic  that  they  seem  to  dwarf  the  tri- 
forium  and  clerestory.  This  last  has  been  converted  into 
the  early  English  style  when  the  vaulting  was  erected. 
The  original  ground  plan  of  the  Norman  church  remains 
a  marked  feature  of  Gloucester,  and  may  be  noticed  in 
the  short  transepts  with  eastern  apsidal  chapels  and  those 
of  the  apse. 

Ordericus  Vitalis  relates  that  it  was  a  monk  of  Glou- 
cester who  warned  William  Rufus  of  his  approaching 
end  in  the  New  Forest.    The  King  refused  to  listen,  and 

[IS9] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

speaking  of  Abbot  Serlo's  letter  to  his  attendants,  he  said: 
"  I  wonder  why  my  Lord  Serlo  has  been  minded  to  write 
this  to  me,  for  he  is,  I  believe,  a  good  abbot  and  a  judi- 
cious old  man?  In  his  extreme  simplicity  he  sends  to 
me,  busied  with  so  many  affairs,  the  dreams  of  his  snoring 
monks,  and  from  a  long  distance  has  even  sent  them  to 
me  in  writing.  Does  he  suppose  that  I  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  the  English,  who  will  defer  their  journey  or 
their  business  for  the  dreams  of  wheezing  old  women?" 

Thus  speaking,  says  the  chronicle,  the  King  rose  hastily 
and  departed  on  his  hunting  expedition  in  which  he  met 
his  death. 

Abbot  Serlo  was  succeeded  in  1104  by  Peter,  the  for- 
mer prior  of  the  house.  Peter  had  long  devoted  himself 
to  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  of  him  the  obit- 
uary notice  says  that  during  his  term  of  office  he  "  encom- 
passed the  monastery  with  a  wall  and  enriched  the  cloister 
with  a  number  of  books."  There  exists  a  remarkable 
memorial  of  Abbot  Peter  in  the  Art  Museum  of  South 
Kensington;  it  is  a  candlestick  of  splendid  workmanship, 
the  date  of  which  is  known  with  certainty.  An  inscrip- 
tion on  it  states  that  it  was  made  by  the  Abbot  Peter  for 
his  church  at  Gloucester.  It  is  of  latten  richly  gilt  and 
most  elaborately  ornamented,  and  it  is  undoubtedly  a 
wonderful  specimen  of  English  art  of  the  period.  It  is 
probable,  however,  that  it  did  not  remain  long  at  Glou- 
cester, as  in  1 122  a  disastrous  fire  again  broke  out  there, 
which  destroyed  everything  except  a  few  books  and  vest- 
ments, and  in  this  fire  the  candlestick  would  probably 

[160] 


mms!msm. 


«  .w^, 


GLOUCESTER 

have  perished.  At  some  subsequent  period  this  great 
work  of  art  was  given  to  the  cathedral  of  Mans,  the 
canons  of  which  church  sold  it,  and  in  process  of  time 
it  was  purchased  by  the  South  Kensington  authorities. 

During  the  twelfth  century  the  abbey  of  St.  Peter's, 
Gloucester,  continued  to  grow  and  to  assert  and  defend 
its  privileges  under  a  succession  of  worthy  abbots,  of 
whom  Gilbert  Foliot,  subsequently  bishop  of  Hereford 
and  London,  was  one.  During  the  reign  of  King  John, 
the  monastery  suffered  grievously  by  the  seizure  of  its 
goods,  and  by  the  sale  of  its  plate  to  meet  the  frequent 
royal  demands  for  subsidies.  In  1216  the  abbey  church 
was  the  scene  of  great  festivities  at  the  coronation  of  the 
youthful  King  Henry  HI,  and  in  1222,  exactly  a  century 
after  the  great  fire  already  mentioned,  another  and  third 
disastrous  fire  broke  out  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
monastery.  This  same  year  the  great  Eastern  Tower  of 
the  church  was  completed.  In  1239,  on  September  16, 
amidst  an  immense  concourse  of  spectators,  Walter  Can- 
tilupe.  Bishop  of  Worcester,  dedicated  the  church,  now 
once  more  rebuilt,  to  St.  Peter.  Henceforth  the  anni- 
versary of  this  festival  day  was  kept  at  Gloucester  as  if 
it  were  a  Sunday.  Three  years  later  again  (1242)  the 
vaulting  of  the  nave  was  finished  by  the  monks  them- 
selves, they  doing  the  actual  work  and  not  employing 
stone-workers  and  setters.  At  the  same  time  the  prior 
undertook  the  erection  of  a  tower  to  the  southwest  side 
of  the  church. 

To  continue  the  history  of  the  building:  in  13 18  the 

[■63] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

south  aisle  was  groined.  The  interment  of  Edward  II 
by  the  Abbot  of  Gloucester,  after  Malmesbury,  Kings- 
wood,  and  Bristol  had  refused  to  find  a  tomb  for  the 
dead  King,  led  to  a  great  accession  of  revenue,  and  the 
buildings  manifest  the  result.  The  Norman  walls  of  the 
south  aisle  were  cased  with  tracery  in  the  period  from 
1329  to  1337;  the  choir  was  vaulted  and  a  range  of  stalls 
were  added  (1337-51);  the  lower  part  of  the  central 
tower;  the  casing  of  the  north  aisle  with  tracery;  the 
south  stalls;  the  presbytery  with  screens  (1351-77).  This 
ended  the  work  of  the  fourteenth  century  upon  the  church 
fabric.  In  the  period  between  1420  and  1437,  the  west 
front,  two  western  bays  of  the  nave  and  the  south  porch 
were  completed.  The  central  tower  was  finished  in  the 
years  1459-60,  and  the  wonderful  lady  chapel — a  perfect 
poem  in  stone — was  slowly  built  up  during  the  forty 
years  from  1457-98.  The  sedilia  and  the  tiling  were  the 
last  works  executed  by  the  monks  (1513-34)-  The  ex- 
tremely beautiful  cloister  with  its  exquisite  fan  tracery 
— the  earliest  in  England — was  built  between  135 1 
and  1412. 

During  the  fourteenth  century  many  vestments,  church 
service  books  and  pieces  of  precious  plate  were  bestowed 
upon  the  abbey.  Of  one  abbot  it  is  said  that  he  obtained 
for  the  sacrist  a  large  gilt  chalice,  an  image  of  the  Virgin 
in  ivory,  a  crystal  vessel  with  a  silver  foot  for  holding 
relics,  several  vestments  and  ecclesiastical  ornaments,  a 
volume  of  the  legends  of  the  saints,  together  with  other 
books.     Another  abbot.  Thomas  Horton,  who  had  been 

[164] 


CLOISTER    AND    LAVATOKIUM,     GLOUCESTER    CATHEDRAL 


GLOUCESTER 

sacrist,  presented  "  many  books,  vestments,  and  vessels  of 
silver,  also  four  silver  basins  for  the  High  Altar,  two 
large  ones  for  occasions  when  the  abbot  celebrated  Mass, 
and  two  small  ones  for  the  use  of  a  priest  when  he  should 
celebrate;  also  two  silver  candlesticks  for  the  same  altar, 
and  a  gold  chalice;  also  a  silver  vessel  for  holy  water, 
with  a  silver  aspergill;  also  a  silver  cross,  gilt,  to  place 
on  the  altar  when  the  abbot  celebrated;  also  a  silver  pas- 
toral staff.  There  were  also  purchased  two  sets  of  vest- 
ments." 

In  1378  a  parliament  was  held  at  Gloucester.  It  com- 
menced on  October  22  and  lasted  till  December  16. 
During  the  session  the  King  remained  sometimes  at  Glou- 
cester Abbey  and  sometimes  in  that  of  Tewkesbury.  At 
all  times  during  these  two  months  the  crowd  was  so 
great  that  the  monks  were  put  to  no  little  inconvenience 
and  expense.  The  detailed  account  which  has  come 
down  to  us  says  that  at  times  the  place  "  seemed  more 
like  a  fair  than  a  religious  house,"  and  it  notes  that  the 
grass-plot  of  the  cloister  was  so  trodden  by  the  visitors 
playing  games  that  not  a  vestige  of  green  could  be  seen 
when  the  session  of  Parliament  came  to  an  end. 

On  the  Sunday  before  the  close  of  the  parliament,  High 
Mass  was  sung  by  the  Abbot  of  Gloucester  in  the  presence 
of  the  King,  the  two  archbishops,  twelve  bishops  and 
many  noblemen.  After  Mass  the  King  was  entertained 
in  the  refectory  at  a  magnificent  repast,  "  set  out  with 
great  splendour "  by  the  community. 

The   last   abbot,   William   Malvern   or   Parker,   was 

[167] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

elected  on  May  4,  15 15,  and  his  community  then  con- 
sisted of  thirty-four  monks.  The  antiquary  Browne 
Willis  considers  that  probably  he  was  got  rid  of  by  the 
royal  commissioners  before  the  suppression  of  the  house. 
His  name  does  not  appear  on  the  deed  of  surrender,  which 
was  signed  on  January  2,  1539,  the  religious  being  ex- 
pelled as  soon  as  possible  afterwards.  One  who  deeply 
felt  the  sadness  of  the  catastrophe  which  overwhelmed 
Gloucester,  after  its  centuries  of  corporate  life,  has  writ- 
ten thus  of  the  last  services  held  by  the  monks  in  their 
choir:  "  Having  existed  for  more  than  eight  centuries 
under  different  forms,  in  poverty  and  in  wealth,  in  mean- 
ness and  in  magnificence,  in  misfortune  and  in  success, 
it  finally  succumbed  to  the  royal  will ;  the  day  came,  and 
that  a  dreary  winter  day,  when  its  last  Mass  was  sung,  its 
last  censer  waved,  its  last  congregation  bent  in  rapt  and 
lowly  adoration  before  the  altar  there;  and  doubtless  as 
the  last  tones  of  that  day's  evensong  died  away  in  the 
vaulted  roof,  there  were  not  wanting  those  who  lingered 
in  the  solemn  stillness  of  the  old  massive  pile,  and  who, 
as  the  lights  disappeared  one  by  one,  felt  that  for  them 
there  was  now  a  void  which  could  never  be  filled,  because 
their  old  abbey,  with  its  beautiful  services,  its  frequent 
means  of  grace,  its  hospitality  to  strangers  and  its  loving 
care  of  God's  poor,  had  passed  away  like  an  early  morn- 
ing dream  and  was  gone  for  ever." 


[168] 


JERVAULX 

^**M  ^^N  Wensleydale,  between  Bedale  and  Leyburn 
I         on   the   river   Eure,   stands   all   that   remains 

P         of  Jervaulx  Abbey.     The  monastery  was  first 

founded  at  a  place  in  the  same  neighbour- 
hood called  Fors,  or  Dalegrange,  in  1145  by  a  few 
monks  of  Savigny.  Five  years  later  the  infant  com- 
munity placed  themselves  under  the  Benedictine  abbey 
of  Byland  in  the  same  county  of  Yorkshire;  and  in  11 50 
an  abbot  and  twelve  monks  were  sent  thence  to  colonise 
Dalegrange.  The  superior  of  the  Savigny  monks  was  a 
skilled  physician,  named  Peter  de  Quinciaco,  and  why 
he  and  his  companions  had  come  to  England  at  all  was 
not  understood  even  at  the  time.  The  founder  of  the 
new  house  was  Alan,  Count  of  Brittany,  and  being  present 
when  Peter  de  Quinciaco  laid  the  foundation  of  the  first 
settlement,  he  persuaded  Roger  de  Mowbray,  the  founder 
of  Byland,  to  emulate  his  example  and  assist  the  monks 
with  further  gifts  of  land  and  to  help  them  to  raise  their 
first  wooden  oratory. 

A  subsequent  letter  from  Roger  de  Mowbray  explains 
how  it  came  to  pass  that  the  monks  of  Savigny  after- 
wards abandoned  the  house  they  had  thus  begun.  He 
had,  he  says,  given  them  pasturage  and  the  right  to  cut 
timber  in  his  woods  at  Masham  before  his  first  visit  to 

[169] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

the  Holy  Land.  Not  long  after,  Earl  Alan,  the  chief 
founder,  had  gone  to  his  possessions  in  Brittany,  and  vis- 
iting Savigny  had  told  the  abbot  and  monks  there  what 
Peter  de  Quinciaco  was  doing  in  England.  The  Earl 
then  formally  presented  the  whole  of  the  property  to 
the  abbey  of  Savigny,  which  very  unwillingly  the  abbot 
accepted,  as  he  held  that  the  new  house  should  never 
have  been  begun  without  the  consent  of  the  mother  house. 
Later  on  Peter  de  Quinciaco  was  continually  writing 
from  England  or  getting  others  to  do  so,  begging  for 
more  monks  to  be  sent  over  to  him.  But  the  Abbot  of 
Savigny,  remembering  what  had  happened  in  other 
cases  where  monks  had  been  sent  from  Savigny  to  Eng- 
land to  begin  new  foundations,  wrote  to  tell  Peter  and 
the  few  he  had  with  him  how  foolishly  he  had  acted  in 
beginning  the  house  at  Wensleydale  without  previous  con- 
sultation. The  feelings  of  Peter  were  hurt,  especially  as 
his  abbot  had  declared  his  desire  to  get  rid  of  the  new 
place  altogether.  In  1146  Roger,  Abbot  of  Byland,  had 
to  go  over  to  Savigny  to  the  General  Chapter,  and  Peter 
bethought  himself  of  entrusting  a  letter  to  his  abbot  to 
Abbot  Roger's  keeping. 

The  whole  question  of  the  new  foundation  at  Wens- 
leydale was  raised  in  the  second  session  of  this  Chapter, 
and  by  the  advice  of  the  abbots  of  Quarre  and  Neath, 
who  were  also  at  the  meeting,  it  was  agreed  that  the  Ab- 
bot of  Savigny  should  give  the  incipient  house  of  Fors 
to  the  Abbey  of  Byland,  the  youngest  daughter  house 
of  Savigny  in  England,  and  the  nearest  to  Wensleydale. 

[170] 


JERVAULX 

The  Abbot  of  Quarre  was  instructed  to  carry  out  this 
judgment  and  to  tell  Peter  and  his  companions  that  they 
might  either  remain  under  the  obedience  of  the  Abbot 
of  Byland  of  return  to  Savigny.  If  the  place,  however, 
was  on  inquiry  found  to  be  unable  to  support  a  com- 
munity, then  it  should  be  retained  merely  to  furnish  an 
additional  subsidy  to  the  Abbot  of  Savigny.  These  alter- 
natives were  put  before  Peter  and  his  three  companions, 
and  after  consideration  and  prayer  they  came  before  the 
Abbot  of  Quarre,  and  Peter  acting  as  their  spokesman 
said:  "  Holy  Father  of  Quarre,  we  have  now  sufficiently 
debated  the  business  that  has  brought  you  here.  I  wish 
in  the  first  place  to  inform  you  that  I  and  my  two  com- 
panions, to  whom  originally  this  place  was  specially  given 
for  God's  service,  have  with  all  our  bodies  and  souls 
promoted  its  welfare  and  increased  in  substance.  Now, 
indeed,  blessed  be  the  Most  High!  we  have  five  carucates 
of  ploughland,  forty  cows  with  their  calves,  sixteen  horses 
with  their  foals,  given  by  the  Earl  of  Brittany,  five  sows 
with  their  litters,  three  hundred  sheep,  thirty  skins  in  tan- 
ning, and  wax  and  oil  more  than  enough,  with  a  little 
help,  for  two  years.  We  are  certain  that  we  can  find 
bread  and  beer,  cheese  and  butter  for  one  year  and  we  be- 
lieve that  any  abbot  and  a  community  of  monks  can  begin 
on  such  promise  and  live  till  God  provides  more  fully." 
After  this  Peter  declared  that  if  the  Abbot  of  Byland 
would  send  a  community  and  an  abbot,  with  the  promise 
that  Fors  should  continue  and  be  allowed  to  elect  its  own 
abbot  in  succession,  he  and  his  companions  would  gladly 

[173] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

hand  over  all  their  possessions  to  them.  This  having 
been  promised,  Peter  de  Quinciaco  with  his  two  compan- 
ions and  one  lay  brother  renewed  their  profession  to  the 
Abbot  of  Byland;  a  second  lay  brother,  not  wishing  to 
do  this,  returned  at  once  to  Savigny. 

One  or  two  years  later  the  Abbot  of  Savigny  sent  letters 
to  the  English  houses  in  union  with  him  ordering  them 
in  the  name  of  Pope  Eugenius  to  take  the  Cistercian  Con- 
stitution. The  promised  community  of  monks  had  not 
at  that  time  been  sent  from  Byland,  and  as  there  seemed 
to  be  some  doubt  as  to  the  position  of  the  community  at 
Fors  under  the  changed  circumstances,  the  Abbot  of  By- 
land  in  1 149  went  over  to  Savigny  to  consult  the  abbot. 
On  his  way  back  he  remained  at  Clairvaulx  to  attend  the 
General  Chapter  of  the  Cistercians,  presided  over  by  St. 
Bernard  himself.  He  was  received  with  great  kindness, 
and  St.  Bernard  ordered  that  the  name  of  Fors  should  be 
inscribed  on  the  list  of  Cistercian  houses.  The  Abbot 
of  Byland  got  home  for  November  i  and  immediately 
set  about  the  task  of  erecting  the  new  foundation  into  an 
abbey.  He  ordered  the  cellarer  of  Byland  to  purchase 
a  new  bell  for  their  own  church  and  sent  the  old  one 
to  Jervaulx,  and  at  the  new  year,  11 50,  he  went  thither 
and  spent  a  month  in  making  all  necessary  preparations 
for  the  advent  of  the  community.  Returning,  he  ordered 
Peter  and  his  companions  to  be  at  Byland  for  the  first 
Sunday  of  Lent.  On  that  day  in  the  conventual  chapter 
he  appointed  John  de  Kingston  the  first  abbot  of  the  new 
house,  giving  him  as  his  community  Peter  and  his  two 

['74] 


JERVAULX 

companions  and  nine  monks  of  Byland,  who  immediately 
made  their  obedience  to  their  new  abbot.  On  March  8, 
after  receiving  the  usual  blessing,  the  abbot  and  com- 
munity set  out  for  their  new  home,  where  they  were  re- 
ceived at  Dalegrange  by  the  old  benefactors  of  the  place; 
and  here  the  abbot  appointed  a  prior,  and  Peter,  who 
knew  the  place  so  well,  his  cellarer.  The  first  years  were 
times  of  difficulty  and  trial,  and  in  the  fifth  year  the  house 
nearly  came  to  an  end  through  poverty,  as  the  autumn  was 
wet  and  it  was  impossible  to  gather  in  the  harvest.  The 
monks  often  discussed  the  propriety  of  returning  to  their 
old  home  at  Byland,  but  in  the  end  they  were  helped  in 
their  difficulty  by  the  generosity  of  the  abbot  of  this  latter 
house  and  his  community.  Still  the  revenues  of  the  abbey 
were  not  sufficient  to  support  the  inmates,  and  for  a  year 
five  of  the  religious  were  compelled  to  return  to  Byland, 
and  three  others  to  seek  shelter  at  Furness. 

Meanwhile  Peter,  now  the  cellarer,  asked  permission 
to  go  and  interest  Count  Alan  of  Brittany  in  their  difficul- 
ties. This  he  did,  and  the  Count  at  once  expressed  his 
intention  of  materially  aiding  them  when  he  next  came 
over  into  Richmond.  After  a  delay  of  two  years  he  paid 
his  promised  visit  and  enjoyed  the  chase  on  his  estates, 
where  the  only  drawback  to  his  sport  was  the  number  of 
wolves  which  infested  the  place.  He  then  came  to  the 
abbey  and  promised  liberal  help.  This,  however,  he  was 
not  destined  to  give  in  person,  as  he  shortly  after  died. 
His  son,  Conan,  however,  took  up  the  work  and  gave  the 
community  a  large  tract  of  land  at  East  Witton,  and  great 

[I7S] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

pasturage  on  Wensleydale;  to  this  situation  near  Witton 
on  the  Eure  the  community  moved  and  began  to  build, 
and  from  its  situation  on  the  river  it  first  began  to  be 
known  as  Jervaulx. 

Of  the  subsequent  history  of  the  monastery  little  is 
known  until  the  date  of  the  final  suppression.  In  the 
year  of  the  Great  Pestilence,  1349,  the  Abbot  of  Jervaulx 
died  apparently  of  that  disease,  but  there  is  no  record  of 
the  extent  of  its  ravages  among  the  community.  Probably 
Jervaulx  at  this  time  suffered  the  loss  of  many  of  its  mem- 
bers, even  if  it  was  not  depleted,  as  so  many  religious 
houses  were,  by  the  scourge. 

The  last  abbot,  Adam  Scdbar,  alias  Nelson,  was  elected 
in  1533.  When  the  Northern  Rising  took  place  in  1537, 
Abbot  Sedbar  found  himself  implicated  in  the  charges 
made  against  the  heads  of  several  abbeys  in  the  north. 
The  chief  witness  against  him  was  one  of  the  monks  of 
Jervaulx,  called  Ninian  Staveley,  himself  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  movement  and  a  representative  of  the 
swashbuckler  element  among  the  insurgents.  He  was  an 
adventurer  who,  having  compromised  himself,  endeav- 
oured to  save  his  own  neck  by  turning  an  informant. 
According  to  his  deposition  it  would  appear  that  during 
the  second  rising  the  abbot  had  promised  to  come  to  the 
aid  of  the  insurgents  with  all  his  monks;  he  had  also,  so 
said  Staveley,  begged  Sir  Thomas  Percy  "  to  come  for- 
ward," and  had  sent  to  find  out  whether  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  was  advancing  "  with  arms  or  no." 

On  April  27,  1537,  Abbot  Sedbar  was  examined  in  the 

[176] 


JERVAULX 

Tower  on  these  accusations.  Being  sworn,  he  admitted 
that  about  Michaelmas  during  the  first  rising  there 
*' came  to  the  garth  or  court  of  the  abbey"  some  two  or 
three  hundred  men.  He  knew  nothing  about  it  at  the 
time,  but  hearing  that  their  captains,  Middleton  and 
Staveley,  were  asking  for  him,  "  he  conveyed  himself  by 
a  back  door  "  to  a  place  called  "  Wilton  Fell."  He  only 
had  a  boy  with  him,  and  he  "  bade  his  other  servants  get 
them  every  man  to  his  own  house  and  save  their  cattle 
and  goods."  He  remained  thus  concealed  for  four  days, 
only  coming  home  at  night;  "  and  for  all  those  days  the 
commons  wandered  about  the  said  house  in  the  country 
round  about."  "  At  last,  hearing  that  this  examinate  had 
said  that  there  should  be  no  servant  of  his  ever  after  do 
him  services,  nor  tenant  dwell  on  no  land  of  his,  that 
should  go  with  them,  they  therefore  turned  back  to  Jer- 
vaulx,  and  inquired  for  this  examinate,  and  they  were 
answered  that  he  was  not  at  home."  And  they  compelled 
the  monks  to  proceed  to  the  election  of  another  abbot  in 
his  place.  The  monks  hesitating,  the  people  said  that  if 
they  did  not  proceed  to  an  election  within  an  hour  they 
would  burn  the  house  about  their  ears.  At  length  the 
monks  sent  to  seek  Abbot  Sedbar,  and  finding  him  in  a 
great  crag  on  Wilton  Fell,  begged  him  to  come  home  to 
prevent  the  destruction  of  the  monastery. 

"  Then  for  saving  of  the  house  this  examinate  come 
home,  and,  about  the  outer  gate,  he  was  torn  from  his 
horse  and  almost  killed,  they  crying,  '  Down  with  the 
traitor  1 '  "    After  threatening  to  kill  him  they  made  him 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

come  with  them  and  kept  him  for  some  days  before  they 
allowed  him  to  return  to  Jervaulx.  He  denied  absolutely 
that  he  had  given  any  aid  whatever  to  them.  They  had 
indeed  taken  his  servants  with  them,  but  he  had  refused 
to  pay  them  their  wages  and  "  he  never  sent  victuals  unto 
them."  The  insurgents  had  tried  to  force  him  and  his 
brethren  to  go  with  them,  but  he  had  refused  and  had  fled 
to  Bolton  Castle  to  Lord  Scrope  and  had  remained  there 
till  the  insurgents  were  "broken  at  Richmond."  He 
further  denied  the  special  points  which  Staveley  had 
suggested  against  him. 

At  the  same  time  the  late  Abbot  of  Fountains,  William 
Thirsk,  who  was  then  living  at  Jervaulx  and  who  was 
subsequently  executed,  was  also  examined  as  to  his  com- 
plicity in  the  rising.  He  declared  that  he  remembered 
well  how  the  insurgents  tried  to  compel  the  Jervaulx 
brethren  to  join  them.  "  Middleton  and  Staveley,"  he 
said,  "  came  in  harness  to  the  abbot  of  Jervaulx,  as  he 
and  this  examinate  were  in  his  chamber,  and  bade  them 
all,  their  brethren  and  servants  on  pain  of  death,  go  with 
them  forthwith.  And  many  other  of  the  commons  were 
in  the  hall  and  about  the  house.  And  he  desired  them 
instantly  to  suffer  him  and  his  brethren  to  be  still,  seeing 
that  it  was  not  meet  that  religious  men  should  go  about 
any  such  business." 

Although  there  was  little  enough  in  these  depositions 
and  examinations  to  implicate  the  Abbot  of  Jervaulx  in 
the  Northern  insurrections,  his  ultimate  fate  was  hardly 
doubtful  from  the  first.  He  was  hanged  on  June  2,  1537, 
at  Tyburn,  and  by  the  new  interpretation  of  the  law  of 

[178] 


JERVAULX 

attainder,  the  property  of  his  abbey  was  held  to  be  for- 
feited to  the  Crown  by  the  constructive  treason  of  its 
abbot.  "  The  house  of  Jervaulx,"  wrote  the  King,  with 
keen  prevision,  to  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  "  is  in  some  danger 
of  suppression  by  like  offence  as  hath  been  committed  at 
Whalley."  The  danger  was  not  long  delayed;  for  at  the 
beginning  of  June  Sir  Arthur  Darcy  informed  Crumwell 
that  he  had  been  at  the  suppression  of  Jervaulx.  "  The 
house  within  the  gate,"  he  writes,  "  is  covered  wholly  with 
lead,  and  there  is  one  of  the  fairest  churches  that  I  have 
seen,  fair  meadows  and  a  river  running  by  it,  and  a  great 
domain."  In  fact  he  was  so  pleased  with  the  place  and  its 
possibilities  for  breeding  horses,  "  for  surely  the  breed  of 
Jervaulx  for  horses  was  the  tried  breed  in  the  north,"  that 
he  suggested  it  would  make  a  good  stable  for  the  royal 
stud  of  mares. 

By  the  energy  of  Richard  Bellasis  before  the  middle  of 
November  what  Darcy  declares  to  have  been  "  one  of  the 
fairest  churches  that  I  have  seen  "  had  been  desecrated 
and  demolished.  Crumwell  had  ordered  the  lead  to  be 
pulled  forthwith  from  the  roof,  and  his  agent  wrote  to  say 
that  this  had  been  done  and  that  it  was  melted  into  "  pieces 
of  half  fodders;  which  lead  amounteth  to  the  number  of 
eighteen  score  and  five  fodders,  with  thirty-four  fodders 
and  a  half  that  was  there  before.  The  said  lead  cannot 
be  conveyed  nor  carried  until  the  next  summer,  for  the 
ways  in  this  country  are  so  foul  and  deep  that  no  carriage 
can  pass  in  the  winter.  And  as  concerning  the  razing 
of  the  house  if  it  be  your  lordship's  pleasure  I  am  minded 
to  let  it  stand  till  the  spring  of  the  year,  because  the  days 

[179] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

are  now  so  short  it  would  be  double  charges  to  do  it  now." 
As  to  the  bells  he  writes,  "  I  cannot  sell  them  above  fifteen 
shilling  the  hundred  weight,"  and  he  would  gladly  know 
whether  he  should  take  that  price  or  send  them  up  to 
London.  By  Michaelmas,  1537,  the  King's  official  is  able 
to  account  for  receipts  from  the  attainted  monastery  of 
Jervaulx  exceeding  £600.  The  following  year  the  same 
property  paid  into  the  exchequer  £764  13s.  8d.,  but  in 
that  period  more  than  £2,000  had  been  paid  out  of  this 
and  other  attainted  property  in  Yorkshire  for  the  fees  and 
payment  of  knights  and  squires  on  the  marches  of 
Scotland. 

As  in  the  case  of  other  attainted  monasteries  like  Whal- 
ley,  Glastonbury,  Colchester,  or  Reading  the  monks  of 
Jervaulx  did  not  receive  any  pension  when  they  were 
turned  out  of  their  monastery.  What  became  of  them  is 
for  the  most  part  unknown.  In  1585  John  Almond,  one 
of  them,  died  at  the  age  of  76  in  the  Castle  of  Hull,  having 
been  in  prison  there  since  1579.  Two  years  previously 
Thomas  Madde,  another  Cistercian  of  Jervaulx,  died  in 
prison  at  York.  Of  him  it  is  said  that  in  Henry  VHI's 
days  he  "  did  take  away  and  hide  the  head  of  one  of  his 
brethren  of  the  same  house,  who  suffered  death  in  that 
he  would  not  yield  and  consent  to  the  royal  supremacy." 
Afterwards  he  fled  to  Scotland  "  where  he  did  remain 
unto  the  end  of  King  Edward's  reign.  He,  returning  in 
Queen  Mary's  reign,  did  spend  his  time  about  Knares- 
borough  in  serving  God  according  to  his  vocation  and 
teaching  of  gentlemen's  children  and  others." 

[180] 


ST.    MARY'S,  YORK 

OOWN  by  the  river  at  York,  and  just  inside  the 
city  walls,  stood  the  Abbey  of  Our  Lady  St. 
Mary.  Comparatively  few  remains  now  mark 
the  site  of  what,  before  its  destruction,  was  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  churches  in  mediaeval  England,  and 
"  one  of  the  most  perfect  examples  of  consummate  archi- 
tecture in  the  world."  The  actual  ruins  are  but  few:  the 
crumbling  wall  of  the  north  aisle;  a  tower-pier  cut  short 
at  about  half  its  height ;  a  mere  fragment  of  the  west  wall ; 
and  a  few  stones  of  the  Chapter  House  still  stand,  but  the 
enormous  mass  of  fragments,  many  superbly  carved, 
which  have  been  of  late  gathered  toge'ther,  manifest  even 
more  clearly  the  beauty  of  that  which  was  destroyed  in_ 
the  sixteenth  century  than  what  still  remains  standing-.. 

The  first  beginnings  of  St.  Mary's,  York,  must  remaim 
uncertain.  According  to  one  account,  the  Earl  of  Rich-- 
mond,  in  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror,  founded' 
a  house  for  Benedictines  in  the  suburbs  of  York.  But  all 
authorities  appear  to  admit  that  William  Rufus  in  1088, 
finding  the  place  too  straitened  for  the  reception  of  any 
convent  of  size,  or  projecting  a  larger  one,  with  his  owni 
hand  opened  the  ground  for  the  foundation  of  the  more 
spacious  building  on  the  site  where  the  ruins  may  now  be 

[181] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

seen.  His  charters  granting  privileges  and  immunities 
naturally  cause  him  to  be  regarded  as  the  chief  founder 
of  the  abbey.  Other  kings  followed  this  example  of 
William  H  and  extended  their  patronage  to  the  mon- 
astery, and  many  pious  noblemen  and  others  continually 
added  to  the  original  foundation,  until  St.  Mary's  became 
possessed  of  a  revenue  of  £1,650  os.  7^d.,  according  to  the 
Valor  Ecclesiasticus  of  Henry  VHI. 

The  Abbey  of  St.  Mary's,  York,  enjoyed  he  privilege 
of  being  one  of  the  two  mitred  abbeys  north  of  the  Trent — 
the  other  being  Selby — and  the  abbot  w^as  summoned  to 
Parliament  as  a  peer  of  the  realm.  It  had  an  even,  un- 
eventful history,  disturbed  only  by  quarrels  as  to  rights 
and  privileges  with  the  town  and  with  the  Archbishop  of 
York.  The  latter  was  bound  by  his  official  duty  to  make 
a  formal  visitation  of  the  abbey  once  a  year.  He  could 
also  reform  and  correct  any  abuse  he  found  in  the  house 
with  the  consent  and  counsel  of  the  community  and  five 
or  six  of  the  canons  of  his  cathedral.  These  visits  were 
generally  carried  out  with  justice  and  in  a  spirit  of  fair 
dealing  on  both  sides.  To  take  an  example:  in  1344, 
William,  the  Archbishop  of  York,  in  making  his  visita- 
tion, raised  the  question  of  the  right  of  the  abbot  and 
convent  to  take  certain  tithes  and  pensions  from  so  many 
churches  in  his  diocese.  The  religious  at  once  produced 
papal  Bulls  and  the  grants  of  his  predecessors  in  the  See, 
allowing  them  to  hold  these  impropriations;  whereupon 
they  were  allowed  by  the  prelate  and  declared  good  and 
sufficient.   To  take  another  instance :  in  one  of  these  visita- 

[182] 


^vi;-K'',>^.- 


V  1^ 


''i? 


ST.    MARY'S,   YORK 

tions  it  became  evident  to  the  archbishop  that  for  the 
regular  observance  and  the  avoidance  of  minor  differ- 
ences in  the  community,  it  would  be  well  that  there  should 
be  a  proper  customal  drawn  up,  as  the  book  to  which  all 
could  appeal.  He  consequently  appointed  a  commission, 
consisting  of  two  of  the  community  and  two  canons  of  the 
cathedral.  Together  they  composed,  and  the  Archbishop 
approved,  a  consuetudinary  of  ceremonies  and  music  to  be 
observed  at  St.  Mary's,  which  volume  was  afterwards 
kept  in  the  abbot's  chapel  as  the  official  ceremonial  to  be 
appealed  to  whenever  it  became  necessary. 

The  great  church  of  St.  Mary's,  York,  was  cruciform, 
and  each  of  the  arms  east  and  west  of  the  central  tower 
consisted  of  eight  bays.  It  was  rebuilt  in  the  second  half 
of  the  thirteenth  century.  Thus  in  1270,  Abbot  Simeon  de 
Warwick  is  said  "  to  have  commenced  the  new  work  of 
the  choir,"  which  entry  in  the  records  affords  an  indica- 
tion of  the  period  when  this  fine  specimen  of  thirteenth- 
century  ecclesiastical  architecture  was  under  construction. 
The  foundations  of  many  of  the  domestic  buildings  can  be 
easily  traced;  the  Chapter  House  had  three  alleys,  a  very 
unusual  feature;  the  parlour  and  slype  or  passage  to  the 
cemetery,  are  on  the  east  side  and  formed  the  undercroft 
to  the  dormitory;  the  Norman  arch  of  the  gatehouse  re- 
mains on  the  north.  The  lower  guest  house,  consisting  of 
a  stone  basement  of  the  fourteenth  century  and  a  super- 
structure of  the  fifteenth,  is  near  the  river. 

One  or  two  interesting  little  particulars  in  the  history 
of  St.  Mary's  appear  in  the  annals  of  the  Abbey  of  Meaux. 

[185] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

In  1 2 10,  on  the  election  of  Hugh  as  abbot  of  the  latter 
house,  the  convent  found  themselves  unable  to  pay  the 
fine  of  a  thousand  marks  demanded  by  the  King's  officials, 
who  thereupon  seized  some  of  their  lands  and  sold  them. 
By  this  alienation  the  monastery  became  so  impoverished 
that  the  monks  had  to  disperse.  At  this  time  most  of  the 
other  Cistercian  houses  in  the  country  were  also  too  poor 
to  receive  their  brethren  of  Meaux,  and  so  the  Abbot  of 
St.  Mary's,  York,  offered  to  give  some  of  them  shelter. 
The  good  relation  between  the  two  houses  was  somewhat 
disturbed  in  the  middle  of  this  same  thirteenth  century 
by  a  dispute  about  the  fishing  in  Wathsand  and  Hornsey 
meres.  Meaux  had  paid  a  rent  to  St.  Mary's  for  the 
privilege,  but  ultimately  there  was  an  appeal  to  the  law 
and,  finally,  to  a  combat  between  the  champions  of  the 
two  convents.  Whilst  this  wager  of  battle  was  proceeding 
an  agreement  was  come  to  by  the  parties.  In  further 
negotiations,  however,  they  again  fell  out,  and  once  more 
the  settlement  was  referred  to  the  two  champions  to  fight 
out  the  cause  to  the  end.  A  stay,  however,  was  allowed 
in  order  that  the  Meaux  claimants  might  have  the  part  of 
the  mere  they  held  to  be  theirs  marked  out  by  stakes.  Still 
no  agreement  could  be  come  to,  and  the  two  champions 
commenced  their  wager  of  battle  at  York.  They  fought, 
says  the  chronicler,  a  mane  usque  ad  vesperam — from 
morning  till  night — when  the  "  athlete  "  of  Meaux  little 
by  little  lost  his  strength,  and  St.  Mary's  was  adjudged  to 
have  the  victory. 

From  the  same  source  we  know  that  in  13 19,  when 

[186] 


ST.    MARY'S,   YORK 

15,000  Scots  attacked  Yorkshire,  the  clerics  of  York  were 
not  backward  in  defending  themselves.  The  Archbishop 
of  York  with  his  cross-bearer,  the  Bishop  of  Ely,  the 
Chancellor,  the  Abbot  of  St.  Mary's,  the  Dean  of  York 
and  others  were  present  at  the  battle  of  Milton  on  the 
Swale.  The  English  suffered  terribly,  says  the  record,  and 
"  many  priests  and  clerics  "  with  the  Mayor  of  York  were 
killed  and  more  than  3,000  men  were  drowned  in  trying 
to  cross  the  river.  The  Abbot  of  St.  Mary's,  the  Bishop 
of  Ely  and  the  Archbishop  were  saved  by  timely  flight. 
The  cross  of  the  latter,  however,  was  lost  for  some  days. 

The  last  abbot,  William  Thornton  or  Dent,  was  ap- 
pointed in  1530.  The  royal  visitation,  prior  to  the  Parlia- 
ment of  1536,  was  begun  in  Yorkshire  in  the  January  of 
that  year,  only  a  few  weeks,  indeed,  before  the  meeting 
of  the  Houses  in  London.  On  January  13,  Layton,  one  of 
the  most  diligent  of  the  visitors,  wrote  to  Crumwell  from 
St.  Mary's.  "This  day,"  he  says,  "we  begin  with  St. 
Mary's  Abbey,  whereat  we  suppose  to  find  much  evil  dis- 
position, both  in  the  abbot  and  the  convent,  whereof,  God 
willing,  I  shall  certify  you  in  my  next  letter."  This  ex- 
pectation hardly  displays  the  judicial  spirit;  the  writer 
expects  to  find  what  he  has  come  to  find,  and  will  be  only 
too  pleased  to  be  able  to  write  his  accusations  in  the  next 
communication.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  result  of 
this  so-called  examination,  St.  Mary's,  York,  did  not  come 
within  the  £200  a  year  limit  of  corruption  fixed  by  the  Act 
dissolving  the  lesser  houses.  As  it  was  one  of,  what  the 
preamble  of   that  Act  calls,   "  the   Great   and   Solemn 

['87] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

Houses  "  of  the  realm,  in  it,  according  to  Henry's  declara- 
tion, religious  life  was  right  well  kept  and  observed. 

A  few  years  later,  however,  this  good  character  did  not 
avail,  and  finally  the  abbot  and  the  convent  gave  way  to 
the  pressure  exerted  upon  them  and  surrendered  their 
house  on  November  26,  1539.  The  wrecking  of  the  noble 
buildings  at  once  began;  the  roofing  of  the  church  excited 
the  cupidity  of  the  spoilers,  as  it  was  estimated  to  be  worth 
£800;  the  conventual  buildings  are  said  to  have  been 
blown  up  and  the  ground  levelled,  in  order  to  erect  on  the 
site  a  royal  palace  for  the  northern  parts.  Immediately 
after  Henry's  death  the  greater  portion  of  the  royal  palace 
was  destroyed  and  what  was  left,  together  with  the  old 
abbot's  lodgings,  was  turned  into  a  dwelling  for  the 
"  Lord  President  of  the  North,"  which  was  changed  a 
great  deal  in  the  time  of  James  I  and  Charles. 

During  this  time  probably  the  roofless  skeleton  of  the 
once  glorious  church  still  stood  more  or  less  intact.  In 
1 701,  however,  York  Castle,  standing  much  in  need  of 
reparation,  found  a  ready  quarry  of  stone  in  the  walls  of 
old  St.  Mary's.  King  George  I  also  gracefully  granted  to 
Beverly  Minster  and  St.  Mary's,  Beverly,  as  much  stone 
from  the  ruin  as  they  needed  for  their  extensive  repairs. 
Lastly,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  to  complete  the  destruc- 
tion, permission  was  granted  to  erect  lime-kilns,  into 
which  for  years  went  the  worked  stones  which  would  now 
have  been  without  price.  It  was  not  till  1827  that  anyone 
thought  of  raising  a  protest  against  this  vandalism. 

[188] 


QIl}apt?r  Wxftttn 

MILTON 

^^^^HE  Benedictine  abbey  of  Milton  in  Dorsetshire 
m  C^\  was  founded  in  the  year  939  by  King  Athelstan. 
^^^^V  It  was  called  variously  Middleton,  Milton 
Abbas  or  Milton,  and  was  dedicated  first  to  St. 
Mary  and  St.  Michael  the  Archangel.  To  these  patrons 
were  afterwards  added  St.  Sampson  and  St.  Branwalader, 
as  the  church  in  the  early  days  of  its  existence  became 
possessed  of  considerable  relics  of  these  Saints. 

The  abbey  had  its  origin  in  the  tragic  death  of  Edwin, 
the  brother  of  Athelstan,  for  which  that  king  held  himself 
in  part  blameworthy.  When  Athelstan  began  his  reign 
in  the  year  924  he  found  himself  the  practical  master  of 
nearly  all  England,  and  within  a  few  years  of  his  accession 
he  had  also  imposed  his  rule  on  Northumbria  and  Wales, 
and  had  driven  the  Britons  of  Cornwall  westward  from 
Exeter.  Athelstan  had  three  brothers,  Edmund,  Eadred, 
and  Edwin.  The  two  first  succeeded  him  on  the  throne; 
the  third  was  accused  of  conspiring  against  him.  Athel- 
stan, acting  impulsively  on  bad  advice,  expelled  Edwin 
from  England,  putting  him  with  his  squire  only  on  board 
a  boat  without  either  oars  or  sail,  and  setting  him  adrift 
at  Dover.    After  being  tossed  about  for  some  time  on  the 

[189] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

English  seas,  Edwin  is  said  to  have  thrown  himself  over- 
board when  near  the  Norman  coast;  but  his  squire,  abid- 
ing in  the  ship,  came  safely  to  land  near  Ushant,  with  the 
body  of  the  prince,  which  was  carried  to  St.  Bertin's  Ab- 
bey and  there  buried.  Athelstan  was  filled  with  remorse 
for  what  he  had  done  to  bring  about  the  death  of  his 
brother  Edwin,  and  he  determined  in  expiation  to  build 
a  monastery  for  Benedictine  monks  at  Milton,  and  to 
dedicate  it  to  our  Lady  and  St.  Michael.  Shortly  after- 
wards he  buried  the  body  of  his  mother,  Amphelisa,  in 
this  place,  and  continued  during  life  to  manifest  his  in- 
terest in  the  new  foundation. 

Amongst  other  precious  gifts  the  founder  bestowed 
upon  the  Abbey  of  Milton  were  many  relics  of  saints,  etc., 
which  he  brought  from  Rome  and  Brittany.  In  the  list  of 
these  we  find  "  the  arm  and  other  bones  of  St.  Sampson," 
and  the  arm  of  St.  Branwalader  the  bishop.  These  and 
other  relics,  "  at  great  cost  and  labour,"  he  procured  and 
placed  in  gilt  shrines  in  the  abbey  church  to  obtain  prayers 
for  the  soul  of  his  brother  Edwin  and  for  that  of  his 
mother,  who  lay  buried  in  the  place  he  had  founded. 

The  connection  between  the  abbey  of  Milton*  and  that 
of  St.  Bertin  is  obvious.  Edwin  was  buried  at  the  latter 
monastery,  and  his  name  was  connected  by  the  fo^inder 
with  Milton.  It  is  more  than  probable,  therefore,  that  the 
monks  from  St.  Bertin  came  over  the  sea  and  formed  the 
iirst  community  settled  at  Milton.  As  in  so  many  of 
the  English  monasteries,  during  the  Danish  invasion,  the 
monastic  form  of  life  appears  to  have  died  out  at  Milton, 

[  190] 


MILTON 

since  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  under  the  year  964  states 
that  King  Edgar  replaced  the  secular  canons,  who  were 
then  living  there,  by  monks. 

In  1309  a  fire  of  great  magnitude  destroyed  the  church, 
which  had  been  built  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  most  of 
the  domestic  buildings.  The  church  was  subsequently  re- 
built as  we  may  see  it  now.  It  is  132  feet  long  by  61  feet; 
the  tower  is  loi  feet  high,  and  the  transepts  are  107  feet 
across,  the  south  wing  having  three  bays  and  the  north 
only  two.  The  nave  was  apparently  never  rebuilt.  The 
eastern  portion  of  four  bays  is  groined  and  retains  its 
rood-loft,  thirty-two  stalls  and  a  reredos  of  1492.  Of  the 
domestic  buildings  only  the  refectory  with  rich  oak  ceil- 
ing and  screen  of  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  is  now 
in  existence. 

William  Middleton,  the  last  abbot  but  one,  who  ruled 
his  house  from  148 1  till  his  resignation  in  1525,  did  much 
to  repair  and  beautify  his  house.  He  founded  a  free 
school  also  at  Milton  Abbas  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VII, 
and  he  reglazed  the  windows  and  otherwise  ornamented 
the  interior  of  the  abbey  church.  On  the  reredos  just  re- 
ferred to  there  is  an  inscription  asking  for  prayers  for  him- 
self and  another  monk  who  had  collected  the  money  to  pay 
for  the  decoration.  The  abbot's  rebus,  a  W  with  a  crozier 
through  it,  and  a  mill  on  a  tun,  is  frequently  seen  on  the 
buildings. 

John  Stephens,  alias  Bradley,  a  monk  of  Milton,  was 
elected  as  William  Middleton's  successor  in  1525,  and  on 
March  23,  1538,  he  was  consecrated  suffragan  Bishop  of 

[  193  ] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

Shaftesbury.  On  March  21,  the  feast  of  their  patron,  St. 
Benedict,  in  the  year  1539,  the  King's  commissioners,  John 
Tregonwell  and  John  Smythe,  came  to  Milton  and  re- 
ceived from  the  abbot  and  community  the  surrender  of 
their  monastery  into  the  King's  hands.  The  late  Abbot 
Stephens,  alias  Bradley,  Bishop  of  Shaftesbury,  and 
twelve  monks  signed  the  surrender,  and  obtained  pensions 
for  their  lives. 

The  same  John  Tregonw^ell,  on  payment  of  £1,000  to 
the  treasurer  of  the  Court  of  Augmentations,  obtained  a 
grant  of  the  whole  property  of  Milton  Abbey.  It  included 
the  site  of  the  entire  monastery,  the  church  and  tower,  the 
cemetery  of  the  late  monastery,  all  houses,  buildings, 
barns,  stables,  granges,  dovecots,  gardens,  orchards,  pleas- 
ure grounds,  ponds,  stews,  etc.  As  the  whole  was  included 
in  one  grant,  this  for  a  time  probably  saved  the  buildings 
from  destruction.  Hutchins,  the  historian  of  Dorset,  says 
that  all  the  monastic  buildings,  except  the  hall  and  the 
church,  were  taken  down  only  in  1771.  Up  to  that  time 
they  stood  near  the  church  and  formed  a  long  square. 
Speaking  of  what  they  were  before  that  time,  the  same 
writer  says:  "The  north  front  was  a  very  low  ancient 
range  of  buildings  with  small  narrow  windows,  perhaps 
the  dormitory  or  cells  for  the  monks.  You  entered  by  a 
large  gate  into  a  small  court,  whose  old  buildings  were  all 
very  irregular  in  form  and  height,  as  indeed  was  the  old 
fabric;  under  a  window  opposite  the  porch  was  a  W  with 
a  crown  over  it  and  an  M  with  a  crozier  through  it,  and 
between  them  1529    .     .    .     At  the  east  end  of  the  court 

[  194] 


MILTON 

was  the  old  abbey  kitchen  pulled  down  in  1737.  The  roof 
was  vaulted  with  stone  and  supported  by  a  massy  stone 
pillar,  and  it  had  two  very  large  chimneys  at  each  end. 
The  western  side  seems  to  have  been  the  abbot's  lodgings. 
The  cloisters  were  placed  between  the  south  end  of  the 
court  and  the  lower  part  of  the  north  aisle.  The  last  re- 
mains appear  to  have  been  taken  down  in  1730.  Under 
the  garden  wall,  by  the  road  that  leads  from  the  town  to 
the  abbey,  was  a  foot-walk  wall,  called  Ambry  wall;  per- 
haps it  was  the  way  to  the  almonry  where  the  poor  re- 
ceived their  alms  of  the  abbey.  Near  this  was  the  ancient 
abbey  barn,  which  had  two  porches  or  threshing-floors 
projecting  beyond  it;  it  was  250  feet  long  by  32  feet  broad. 
It  was  all  tiled,  and  much  of  it  rebuilt  in  175 1." 

One  not  uninteresting  feature  of  the  old  monastery  still 
survives  in  the  long  flight  of  steps  from  the  present  lawn 
up  the  hill-side  to  the  chapel  of  St.  Catherine.  It  was 
erected,  no  doubt,  in  imitation  of  the  Scala  Sancta  in 
Rome,  and  the  indulgence  granted  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury to  such  as  would  make  the  penitential  exercise  of 
mounting  these  steps  is  still  recorded  in  an  inscription 
over  the  door  of  the  chapel  at  the  top.  Sir  Frederick 
Treves  thus  describes  the  situation  of  "  one  of  the  most 
elegant  minsters  in  England  ": 

"  Milton  Abbas  is  a  model  village  grown  old.  Its  story 
is  very  simple.  When  Joseph  Damer,  afterwards  Earl 
of  Dorchester,  became  possessed  of  the  Milton  estates,  he 
found  the  ancient  village  squatted  indecently  near  to  the 
spot  where  he  intended  to  build  his  mansion.    With  the 

[195] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

fine  quarter-deck  high-handedness  of  the  eighteenth-cen- 
tury squire,  he  ordered  the  offensive  object  to  be  removed, 
and  so  it  was.  The  old  untidy  hamlet  (which  had  sur- 
rounded the  abbey)  was  entirely  demolished  as  soon  as  the 
new  Milton  Abbas  had  been  erected  well  out  of  sight 
of  the  great  house.     This  was  in  1786. 

"  The  quaint  and  all-of-one-pattern  village  is  not  the 
only  surprising  thing  in  this  part  of  the  country.  From 
one  end  of  the  toy  town  a  road  leads  into  a  wood,  into 
whose  shades  it  dives  deeper  and  deeper,  as  does  many  a 
road  in  the  children's  story  books.  It  comes  in  time  to 
the  edge  of  the  coppice,  where  is  a  great  grass  valley 
ringed  about  by  hills.  The  woods  creep  down  to  the  foot 
of  the  slope  so  as  to  form  an  amphitheatre  of  trees.  Here, 
on  a  lawn  and  amid  the  flower-gardens  of  a  private  man- 
sion, is  a  cathedral!  No  other  building  is  in  sight.  It 
is  a  strange  thing  to  meet  with — a  great  grey  house  and 
a  great  grey  church,  standing  side  by  side  in  a  hollow 
in  a  wood.  The  place  is  a  solitude,  green  and  still,  shut 
off  from  the  world  by  a  rustling  ring  of  wooded  hills. 
Such  is  Milton  Abbey." 


[1961 


NETLEY 

ON  the  low  ground  bordering  Southampton 
Water  and  almost  hidden  in  a  luxuriant  growth 
of  trees  are  the  ruins  of  Netley  Abbey.  The 
place  is  not  far  from,  is,  indeed,  almost  a  sub- 
urb now  of  the  ever-growing  port  of  Southampton.  The 
ships  that  are  perpetually  passing  down  the  water  on  their 
way  to  every  part  of  the  world,  or  are  returning  up  it 
bearing  the  peoples  and  products  of  lands  unheard  of  and 
undreamt  of  when  Netley  was  at  its  prime,  pass  and  repass 
this  silent  and  ivy-grown  memorial  of  a  life,  strange  per- 
haps now,  but  which  was  very  real  indeed  some  centuries 
ago,  when  the  great  busy  port  of  to-day  was  yet  a  small 
and  unimportant  harbour. 

Netley,  otherwise  called  Lettley,  Edwardstow  or 
Laetus  locus — happy  place — was  the  home  of  Cistercian 
monks.  It  was  a  house  of  royal  foundation,  for  Henry 
III  established  it  in  1232  in  honour  of  St.  Mary  and  St. 
Edward.  The  first  monks  came  from  Beaulieu,  the  Cis- 
tercian abbey  over  the  water  in  the  New  Forest,  which, 
although  it  had  been  established  so  short  a  time,  had  yet 
increased  already  in  numbers  so  much  as  to  be  able  to 
send  out  a  colony  of  brethren  to  Henry's  new  foundation. 
Netley  was  never,  apparently,  very  prosperous,  so  far  as 

[197] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

worldly  wealth  goes,  and  according  to  the  taxation  of 
Pope  Nicholas  the  total  amount  of  its  temporalities  was 
only  £17.  Although  it  subsequently  received  some  further 
endowment  from  Edmund  Earl  of  Cornwall  at  the  time 
of  the  Dissolution  in  1536,  its  clear  income  amounted  only 
to  £100  I2S.  8d. 

Netley,  consequently,  was  in  no  sense  an  important  mon- 
astery, and  little  or  nothing  is  really  known  of  its  story, 
which  was  evidently  the  usual  history  of  an  observant 
house,  in  which  its  members,  apparently  never  more  nu- 
merous than  twelve,  devoted  themselves  to  the  duties  of 
their  state.  Indeed,  in  one  way  this  secluded  spot  has 
attracted  probably  more  notice  in  late  years  than  it  did 
in  the  days  of  its  prosperity.  The  very  picturesqueness 
of  the  situation,  the  attractive  beauty  of  the  ruins  with 
their  setting  of  green  trees  and  shrubs  has  caused  it  to  be 
considered  one  of  the  typical  ruined  abbeys  of  England, 
and  has  attracted  to  it  crowds  of  visitors  from  all  parts  of 
the  world.  It  was  Sir  Horace  Walpole  who  said  of  these 
moss-grown  stones :  "  They  are  not  ruins  of  Netley  but 
of  Paradise.  Oh!  the  Purple  Abbots!  what  a  spot  they 
had  chosen  to  slumber  in!  " 

The  beautiful  church  erected  by  these  "  Purple  Ab- 
bots "  measured  211  feet  in  length  by  58  feet  broad,  with 
a  transept  128  feet  across.  The  nave  was  of  eight  bays, 
and  had  a  rood-screen  with  two  processional  doors  in  it; 
the  presbytery  was  of  four  bays  and  had  its  aisles.  In 
either  transept  there  were  three  altars,  and  the  vaulting 
still  remains  in  the  eastern  aisle  of  the  south  transept. 

[198] 


NETLEY 

The  cloister  of  the  monastery  was  1 14  feet  square;  on  the 
east  side  the  positions  may  still  be  marked  of  the  sacristy 
below  the  library,  the  vestibule  of  the  Chapter  House, 
the  slype  or  passage  to  the  infirmary,  the  common  house 
formerly  vaulted  in  two  alleys,  and  a  small  entry  to  the 
calefactory  which  contains  a  thirteenth-century  fire-place. 
On  the  south  side  of  the  cloister  was  the  refectory,  the 
Early  English  door  of  which  still  remains. 

Netley  was  one  of  the  smaller  religious  houses,  and 
hence  its  destruction  was  decreed  by  Act  of  Parliament 
in  1536,  which  dissolved  all  houses  having  an  income  of 
less  than  £200  a  year.  It  may  be  useful  to  explain  what 
this  bald  statement  means.  In  September,  1535,  the  King 
appointed  commissioners  to  go  round  about  the  monas- 
teries and  send  in  reports,  with  the  intention  of  applying 
to  Parliament  to  suppress  some  of  them  at  least  and  to 
hand  over  their  property  to  his  Majesty.  The  chief  mem- 
bers of  the  commission  were  Leyton,  Legh,  ApRice  and 
London,  and  they  went  rapidly  round  the  country,  send- 
ing in  letters,  reports  and  official  accusations  against  the 
good  name  of  individuals  called  compertes,  to  Crumwell. 
It  must  have  been  some  time  in  the  late  autumn  of  1535 
that  the  visitors  came  to  Netley,  and  judging  from  other 
cases  it  did  not  take  them  very  long  to  draw  up  their 
report.  We  have  not  got  it,  but  it  may  be  taken  for 
granted  that  it  was  sufficiently  dreadful. 

Parliament  met  on  February  4,  1536,  and  solely  upon 
the  King's  declaration  that  the  smaller  religious  houses 
were  in  a  bad  moral  state,  whilst,  "  thanks  be  to  God,'* 

[201] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

the  great  and  solemn  abbeys  were  all  that  could  be  de- 
sired, Parliament  fixed  the  pecuniary  limit  of  moral  de- 
linquency at  £200  a  year,  and  with  indignation  decreed 
the  suppression  of  all  religious  houses  with  an  income 
below  that  sum,  giving  the  King  all  their  corporate  prop- 
erty. According  to  the  preamble  of  the  Act,  it  is  certain 
that  there  was  no  inquiry  worthy  of  the  name,  and  that 
the  measure  was  passed  solely  on  the  strength  of  the 
King's  "  declaration  "  that  he  knew  the  charges  against 
the  smaller  houses  to  be  true. 

The  money  "  measure  of  turpitude  "  fixed  by  the  Act 
made  it  necessary  as  a  preliminary  to  inquire  what  houses 
fell  within  this  limit  of  £200  a  year.  Commissioners 
were  consequently  appointed  to  inquire  and  report.  This 
time  some  at  least  of  the  commissioners  were  the  gentry 
of  the  county;  the  rest  were  officials  of  the  Augmentation 
Office,  newly  created  in  the  expectation  of  the  large  sums 
likely  to  come  to  the  crown  by  the  operation  of  the  Act 
of  Suppression.  Thus,  for  Hampshire  on  May  30,  1536, 
Sir  John  Worseley,  John  and  George  Poulet,  and  William 
Berners  were  directed  to  hold  these  inquiries,  and  this  is 
their  report  about  Netley:  It  "  is  a  large  building  situate 
upon  the  rivage  of  the  seas,  to  the  King's  subjects  and 
strangers  travelling  the  same  seas  great  relief  and  com- 
fort." Although  its  income  was  under  £200  a  year,  still 
the  "  seven  priests  "  living  there  were  "  by  report  of  good 
conversation." 

This  favourable  report  from  the  gentry  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood did  not  avail  to  save  poor  Netley  from  destruc- 

[  202  ] 


NETLEY 

tion.  In  February,  1537,  the  blow  fell.  The  abbot  had 
been  made  to  take  the  abbatial  office  at  Beaulieu,  and  the 
community  were  actually  without  a  head.  The  process 
of  suppression  was  much  the  same  in  every  case,  and  the 
work  was  not  done  in  a  day,  the  existing  accounts  showing 
that  it  took  from  six  to  ten  weeks  to  conduct  a  dissolution. 
The  chief  commissioners  paid  two  official  visits  during 
the  progress  of  the  work.  On  the  first  occasion  they 
announced  to  the  community  and  its  dependents  their 
impending  doom,  called  for  and  defaced  the  seal — the 
symbol  of  corporate  existence,  without  which  nothing  in 
the  way  of  business  could  be  transacted — desecrated  the 
church,  took  possession  of  the  best  plate  and  church  vest- 
ments "  unto  the  King's  use,"  measured  the  lead  upon  the 
roofs,  counted  the  bells,  and  appraised  the  goods  and 
chattels  of  the  community. 

They  then  passed  on  to  the  scene  of  their  next  opera- 
tion, leaving  behind  them  under-officials  and  workmen  to 
carry  out  the  designed  destruction  by  stripping  the  roofs 
and  pulling  down  the  gutters  and  pipes,  melting  the  lead 
into  pigs,  throwing  down  the  bells  and  breaking  them 
with  sledge-hammers  and  packing  the  metal  into  barrels 
ready  for  the  coming  of  the  speculator.  This  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  work  of  collecting  the  furniture  and  selling 
it  by  public  auction  or  by  private  tender.  When  all  this 
had  been  done,  the  commissioners  returned  to  audit  the 
accounts  and  to  satisfy  themselves  that  the  work  of  de- 
struction had  been  accomplished  to  the  King's  content- 
ment. 

[205] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

An  instance  of  this  may  be  seen  in  the  case  of  Netley. 
From  the  first  arrival  of  the  Royal  Commissioners  in 
February,  1537,  to  the  final  handing  over  the  ruins  to  a 
keeper,  the  dissolution  of  the  abbey  took  ten  weeks.  The 
accounts  show  that,  first,  plate  to  the  value  of  £45  lis. 
was  sent  off  to  the  King.  The  ornament  of  the  beautiful 
church,  when  sold  piecemeal,  fetched  £38  19s.  8d.  A 
man  named  Michael  Lister  speculated  in  all  the  movables 
of  the  house,  for  which  he  paid  a  lump  sum  of  £10  13s. 
46..  The  same  adventurer  in  partnership  with  another 
got  all  the  cattle,  corn,  etc.,  for  only  a  little  over  £100. 
When  the  wreckers  had  finished  there  were  £21  worth 
of  bell-metal  and  £40  worth  of  lead  cast  into  "  fodders " 
left  on  the  ground  to  sell.  It  is  not  difficult  to  understand 
where  the  choir-stall  wood  and  the  timbers  of  the  roof 
went  to  when  the  need  to  melt  the  lead  was  pressing; 
and  judging  from  other  instances,  it  would  not  be  sur- 
prising to  know  that  many  a  goodly  missal  and  ancient 
choir-book  used  at  Netley  went  into  the  flames  of  the  fires 
lit  in  chancel  and  nave  to  keep  the  pot  a-boiling.  Per- 
haps even  the  flames  may  account  for  the  precious  volume 
noted  by  Leland  in  the  library  at  Netley — Rhetorica 
Ciceronis. 

The  Cistercian  monks  who  lived  at  Netley  were  soon 
disposed  of  by  the  commissioners.  The  abbot,  as  I  have 
said,  had  been  appointed  to  the  abbey  of  Beaulieu,  which 
it  will  be  remembered  was  the  mother  house  of  Netley, 
so  as  the  monks  of  the  latter  house  had  no  wish  to  have 
"  capacities "  and  leave  the  religious  life,  the  most  easy 

[206] 


NETLEY 

way  to  get  rid  of  them  was  to  send  them  all  to  Beaulieu. 
We  can,  perhaps,  imagine  their  feelings  as  they  were 
shipped  across  the  Southampton  water  on  the  first  stage 
of  their  short  journey  to  their  new  home.  Probably  from 
the  boat,  as  they  looked  back  over  the  waters  in  their 
passage,  they  were  able  to  see  the  smoke  and  flames  rising 
from  their  church  and  monastery,  and  by  this  token  to 
know  that  the  work  of  wrecking  and  destroying  all  that 
they  had  loved  so  well  was  in  full  progress. 

According  to  Browne  Willis,  the  great  destruction  of 
the  abbey  church  commenced  about  the  period  when  the 
buildings  were  inhabited  by  the  Earl  of  Huntingdon, 
who  converted  the  nave  or  west  end  into  a  kitchen  and 
offices.  Soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury the  materials  of  the  whole  fabric  were  sold  to  a  Mr. 
Walter  Taylor,  a  builder  of  Southampton,  but  an  acci- 
dent which  soon  after  befell  Mr.  Taylor  saved  the  ruins. 
At  this  time  it  would  appear  that  the  church  remained  in 
an  almost  perfect  condition,  although  the  transept  had 
been  used  as  a  stable  and  floors  had  been  introduced  at 
various  levels  in  the  building. 

Later  on,  the  place  passed  into  the  possession  of  Sir 
Nathaniel  Holland,  whose  lady,  desiring  to  have  in  her 
park  "  an  elegant  ruin,"  according  to  the  taste  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  removed  the  entire  north  transept  and 
erected  it  near  her  house  for  that  purpose.  In  spite  of 
everything,  however,  Netley  remains  one  of  the  most  fas- 
cinating monastic  monuments  in  the  country. 

[209] 


PERSHORE 

OF  the  five  great  Worcestershire  abbeys,  Glou- 
cester and  Worcester  are  placed  on  the  Severn, 
Pershore  and  Evesham  on  the  Avon,  and 
Tewkesbury  on  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers. 
Pershore  stands  in  the  garden-like  county  of  Worcester- 
shire midway  between  Evesham  and  Worcester.  The 
foundation  of  Pershore  as  a  monastery  is  somewhat  un- 
certain. It  would  seem,  however,  that  about  the  year 
682,  Oswald,  a  nephew  of  Ethelred,  King  of  Mercia,  es- 
tablished there  a  house  of  monks.  During  the  dark  times 
of  the  Danish  invasions  nothing  is  known  about  Pershore; 
but  some  time  before  975,  St.  Oswald,  with  the  help  of 
King  Edgar,  evidently  re-established  the  monks  in  their 
old  place,  which,  according  to  some,  here  as  elsewhere, 
was  occupied  by  seculars. 

Edgar's  charter,  issued  apparently  about  972,  dedicates 
the  church  and  monastery  of  Pershore  to  the  "  Mother 
of  our  Lord,  Mary  ever  a  Virgin,  to  St.  Peter,  chief  of 
the  Apostles,  and  his  fellow-apostle,  Paul."  The  monks 
dwelling  there  were  to  have  the  right  of  electing  their 
abbot  after  the  death  of  the  then  Abbot  Fulbert,  who 
had  been  appointed  to  begin  the  monastery;  and,  as  far  as 

[210] 


PERSHORE 

possible,  Edgar  restored  to  them  the  lands  which  had 
been  taken  from  them  in  the  past  troubles.  The  church 
and  domestic  buildings  were  at  this  time  made  of  wood 
and  were  more  than  once  destroyed  by  fire.  An  entry 
in  an  old  manuscript  states  that  in  976  a  "  consul  nequis- 
simus,"  named  lEUer,  "wickedly  destroyed  the  church 
of  Pershore  and  many  other  churches  which  King  Edgar 
and  Ethelwold  had  built  in  England."  It  was  again 
burnt  down  in  about  the  year  1000,  and  after  two  years 
occupied  in  rebuilding,  it  was,  according  to  the  chronicle, 
once  more  used  for  monastic  divine  services  in  1002. 

In  this  early  period,  before  the  Conquest,  and  probably 
about  the  time  of  Edgar,  Pershore  had  another  bene- 
factor called  Alwald,  Earl  Wada,  "  who  in  honour  of  the 
Mother  of  God  restored  the  monastery  of  Pershore  which 
had  been  destroyed  by  wicked  and  unbelieving  men. 
Having  given  £100  to  Ailgira — probably  Eadgyfa — Ab- 
bess of  Winchester,  she  presented  him  with  relics  of  the 
Holy  Virgin  Eadburga  and  he  translated  them  to  Per- 
shore, placing  them  with  great  devotion  in  a  golden  shrine 
beautifully  worked."  Here,  says  the  chronicler,  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  saint  was  manifested  by  so  many  miracles  that 
within  a  year  a  hundred  sick  people  had  been  cured  of 
various  infirmities.  In  this  way,  "  more  than  in  Win- 
chester, where  the  greater  part  of  her  body  rested,"  the 
Saint  magnified  her  power.  In  process  of  time  the  name 
of  St.  Eadburga  was  added  to  the  dedication  title  of  Per- 
shore. 

Between  the  re-establishment  of  the  abbey  by  King 

[213] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

Edgar,  about  972,  and  the  survey  of  Doomsday  by  the 
Conqueror,  a  century  later,  it  seems  to  have  lost  in  some 
way  or  other  a  considerable  portion  of  its  possessions.  In 
the  Conqueror's  survey  many  of  the  places  in  Worcester- 
shire given  to  Pershore  by  the  charter  of  King  Edgar  are 
found  entered  among  the  Worcestershire  possessions  of 
Westminster  Abbey.  William  of  Malmesbury  expressly 
states  that  it  lost  fully  half  its  property;  part,  he  says, 
had  been  taken  by  the  great,  part  lost  by  the  neglect  of  the 
monks,  but  the  greatest  part  of  all  had  been  bestowed 
by  King  Edward  the  Confessor  and  King  William  on 
Westminster.  Even  some  property  in  Pershore  itself  had 
been  granted  to  the  new  foundation.  At  this  time  the 
revenue  of  the  abbey  appears  to  have  amounted  to  only 
£79,  only  two-thirds  of  what  it  was  during  the  reign  of 
the  Confessor.  King  John  by  his  charter  secured  certain 
lands  and  possessions  to  the  Abbey  of  Pershore,  now 
called  the  church  of  "St.  Mary  and  St.  Eadburga  the 
virgin." 

In  1223,  on  St.  Urban's  day,  the  abbey  was  burnt  a 
second  time.  The  place  was  undergoing  some  repairs, 
and  apparently  in  the  usual  way,  through  the  careless- 
ness of  some  workmen,  the  fire  originated  which  consumed 
the  entire  monastery.  The  rebuilding  was  taken  in  hand 
immediately,  but  the  church  was  not  consecrated  till  1239- 
Half  a  century  later,  in  1288,  a  third  fire  involved  not 
only  the  abbey  but  most  of  the  town.  It  began  in  the 
abbey  bakehouse  or  brewery  and  the  bell  tower  of  the 
church  caught,  after  which  it  quickly  spread  and  con- 

[214] 


PERSHORE 

sumed  the  entire  church  and  more  than  forty  houses  of 
the  town. 

In  this  last  fire,  probably,  the  register  of  the  estates 
and  the  "  evidences "  of  the  privileges  and  customs  of 
the  monastery  were  consumed.  The  loss  was  serious,  and 
in  consequence  a  commission  to  ascertain  the  contents 
of  the  lost  papers  was  appointed  by  the  crown  and  wit- 
nesses were  examined  on  the  subject.  The  Prior  Walter 
was  able  to  produce  certain  copies  of  many  of  the  docu- 
ments, which  had  been  saved,  and  which  he  testified  ex- 
actly represented  the  originals,  as  he  had  frequently 
examined  both  together.  In  proof  of  exemption  from  the 
ordinary  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  Worcester,  he  said 
he  remembered  on  one  occasion,  when  Bishop  Manger 
came  with  the  intention  of  ordaining  clerics  in  their 
church,  they  produced  their  privilege,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  go  to  the  chapel  of  St.  Andrew,  which  was  in  the 
monks'  cemetery.  Besides  the  prior,  fifteen  other  monks 
were  examined  in  this  commission.  Four  of  them  are 
described  as  "  old  men,"  one,  not  among  the  "  senes," 
claims  to  have  been  constantly  a  monk  in  the  cloisters 
of  Evesham  during  sixty  years,  and  three  others  had  been 
monks  more  than  thirty  years. 

The  choir  of  the  church,  destroyed  on  St.  Urban's  day, 
1223,  was  built  up  by  Abbot  Gervaise  and  vaulted  by  his 
successor.  The  nave  has  been  destroyed  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  thirteenth-century  door  to  the  cloisters.  The 
fine  decorated  lantern  tower,  rising  36  feet  above  the  roof, 
was  built  in  133 1.     St.  Eadburga's  chapel  still  remains; 

[21s] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

the  eastern  arm  above  the  transepts  measures  102  feet,  and 
is  now  used  as  the  church.  The  transepts  which  are  gone 
were  160  feet  across,  and  the  nave,  which  anciently  served 
as  the  parish  church,  was  180  feet  long  by  60  feet  broad. 
The  entire  length  of  the  church  was  probably  250  feet. 

The  last  abbot  was  John  Stonewell  or  Stonywell,  who 
was  elected  in  1527.  Wood  says  that  he  was  a  native  of 
Stonywell  in  Staffordshire,  and  "  being  much  addicted  to 
learning  and  religion,"  he  was  sent  as  a  youth  to  Per- 
shore.  From  his  monastery  he  was  sent  to  Gloucester 
College  at  Oxford,  where  the  monks  of  Pershore  had 
their  own  lodging  for  students.  Later  on  he  became 
prior  of  Gloucester  College,  took  his  degree  of  Doctor 
in  Divinity  and  was  abbot  of  his  monastery.  Later  again 
he  became  a  suffragan  bishop  under  the  title  of  Episcopus 
Poletensis,  continuing  still  to  act  as  abbot  of  Pershore. 
He  died  in  1553  and  was  buried  according  to  his  will  in 
a  chapel  he  had  built  in  the  parish  church  of  Longdon. 
For  the  use  of  this  chapel  and  the  parishioners  of  Long- 
don he  left  all  his  books,  his  two  chalices,  his  cruets,  holy 
water  stock,  vestments,  albs,  altar  cloths  and  other  things 
belonging  to  his  private  chapel  at  Longdon. 

Although  the  name  of  John  Stonewell  appears  on  the 
pension  lists  as  superior,  there  is  some  difficulty  in  under- 
standing exactly  who  was  the  abbot  at  the  last.  In  the 
Crumwell  letters  are  six  or  seven  from  a  John  Poleton, 
who  signs  himself  Abbot  of  Pershore.  This  possibly  may 
have  been  his  signature  as  Bishop  Poletensis,  and  the  same 
appears  in  the  abbot's  signature  in  1534.     He  writes  about 

[216] 


PERSHORE 

the  pension  to  be  paid  to  his  predecessor,  sends  Crum- 
well  a  present  of  £io,  and  certainly  had  something  to  say 
at  the  Dissolution,  since  he  writes:  "through  the  action 
of  my  predecessor  and  three  others  the  community  are 
not  content  with  their  present  stipend,  and  grumble  con- 
stantly *  at  this  visitation.'  Hence  I  shall  be  glad  if  you 
will  assign  to  each  priest  yearly  £6  13s.  4d.,  to  each  young 
monk  £5  and  to  the  prior  £10,  for  their  whole  '  finding 
stipend.'  "  The  writer  also  says  that  he  had  already  told 
Dr.  Layton  of  his  willingness  to  resign  his  house  and 
states  that  the  King's  letters  had  ordered  him  to  pay  at 
once  £93  15s.  to  his  "  antecessor." 

At  this  time  when  every  item  of  information  or  accusa- 
tion was  eagerly  listened  to  by  the  crown  agents,  any  dis- 
contented monk  knew  that  he  might,  perhaps,  "  make  for 
himself  "  by  a  timely  complaint  in  the  right  quarter.  In 
this  way  there  were  depositions  laid  against  the  abbot 
of  Pershore  for  speaking  against  the  King's  proceedings. 
Another  complaint,  couched  in  more  general  terms,  was 
sent  up  to  Crumwell  by  one  of  the  Pershore  community, 
Richard  Beerly,  who  wished  to  leave  the  monastery. 
He  did  not  believe  that  what  was  called  St.  Benet's  rule 
was  anything  more  than  vain  superstition.  The  monks, 
according  to  him,  were  a  thoroughly  bad  lot  in  every  way; 
they  neglected  their  choir  duties  "  with  many  other  vices 
they  use,  which  I  have  no  leisure  now  to  express.  Also 
abbots,  monks,  priests  do  little  or  nothing  to  put  out  of 
books  the  bishop  of  Rome's  name,  for  I  myself  do  know 
in  divers  books  where  his  name  and  his  usurped  power 

[217] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

upon  us  is."  Richard  Beerly,  the  writer  of  the  above 
letter,  signed  the  acknowledgment  of  the  Royal  Suprem- 
acy as  the  last  of  the  community,  and  as  his  name  does 
not  appear  on  the  pension  document  at  all,  no  doubt  he 
was  allowed  to  have  his  way  and  leave  the  monastery. 

The  suppression  of  Pershore  was  probably  carried  out 
in  1539.  No  deed  of  surrender  appears  in  the  archives 
of  the  Record  Office  or  is  to  be  found  on  the  Close  Rolls, 
but  it  is  probable  that  the  actual  surrender  would  have 
taken  place  about  the  same  time  as  that  of  the  neighbour- 
in  monastery  of  Evesham,  which  was  in  November,  1539. 
The  ministers'  accounts  show  that  from  the  various  sales 
of  the  goods,  etc.,  of  Pershore,  the  royal  agents  received 
one  year  £541  2s.  8Jd.,  and  the  second  year  £71  is. 
The  portion  of  the  church  that  still  exists  was  saved  by 
the  inhabitants  of  the  town,  who  paid  £400  for  it  to  the 
crown. 


[218] 


E 


RIEVAULX 

'EW  views  are  more  fascinating  than  that  of  the 
ruins  of  Rievaulx  seen  from  the  great  grass  ter- 
race above  them  and  through  the  woods  which 
clothe  the  hillside  to  the  east  and  north.  The 
abbey  lies  in  a  hollow  on  the  bank  of  the  little  river  Rie  in 
Yorkshire,  just  where  three  valleys  meet,  and  the  Rie 
draws  off  two  other  streams  with  it  and  carries  them  to- 
gether towards  the  larger  Derwent.  Though  now  there  is 
a  sense  of  peace  and  security  in  the  valley  of  Rhidal,  even 
whilst  the  gaunt  skeleton  of  the  church  lifts  its  roofless 
gables  and  broken  pillars  to  the  heavens,  it  is  quite  pos- 
sible to  picture  the  place  before  the  civilising  presence 
of  the  white  monks  had  set  its  mark  upon  hollow  and 
hill,  as  the  locus  horroris  et  vastce  solitudinis,  the  "  awe- 
inspiring  and  solitary  place,"  it  is  described  to  be  in  the 
earliest  account  we  have  of  it. 

In  1 1 23  St.  Bernard  sent  some  of  his  monks  of  the  Cis- 
tercian Order  from  Clairvaux  to  England  to  make  a  foun- 
dation in  this  place.  Three  years  later  Walter  Espec, 
a  man  of  good  position,  gave  the  Cistercians  as  their  first 
home  in  Yorkshire  a  place  called  Blackmore,  in  the  woods 
not  far  from  Hemelac,  now  called  Helmesley.     There  in 

[221] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

1 131  they  began  their  religious  life,  calling  the  new  foun- 
dation "  Our  Lady  of  Rievaulx."  In  1 136  the  same  gen- 
erous benefactor  established  the  Cistercian  house  of  War- 
don  in  Bedfordshire,  and  then  in  1 150,  giving  up  his  prop- 
erty to  his  children,  he  retired  to  Rievaulx  and  lived  there 
with  the  monks  for  two  years  before  his  death  in  1152. 

The  first  abbot  of  Rievaulx  was  a  monk  named 
William,  one  of  St.  Bernard's  own  disciples.  He  imme- 
diately commenced  the  building  of  the  monastery,  and 
devoted  himself  at  the  same  time  to  the  training  of  his 
monks.  In  the  Cistercian  annals  this  abbot  is  specially 
noted  for  the  holiness  of  his  life;  and  in  one  list  of  the 
early  Cistercians  he  is  even  called  by  the  name  of  the 
"  Blessed  William."  Abbot  William  was  succeeded  in 
1 150  by  his  more  celebrated  disciple,  St.  ^Elred,  one  of 
the  first  Englishmen  to  join  the  community  after  its  com- 
ing to  settle  at  Rievaulx.  Very  early  in  his  religious 
career  iElred  was  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  novices, 
and  later  was  sent  out  in  charge  of  a  colony  from  Rie- 
vaulx which  was  to  establish  itself  at  Revesby  or  Rewesby, 
in  Lincolnshire.  lEhcd  was  a  writer  of  considerable  re- 
pute, both  as  an  historian  and  as  a  master  of  the  spiritual 
life.  The  history  of  "The  Battle  of  the  Standard"  is 
known  only  through  his  description,  and  the  Genealogia 
Regum  Anglorum  was  composed  to  instruct  Prince 
Henry,  afterwards  King  Henry  II,  in  the  history  of  the 
Saxon  Kings.  St.  lElxtd  suffered  all  his  life  from  ill- 
health,  and  for  years  before  he  died  he  was  hardly  ever 
free  from  pain.     One  picture  we  get  of  him  whilst  Abbot 

[  222  ] 


RIEVAULX 

of  Rievaulx,  a  short  time  before  his  death,  is  that  of  a 
monk  wrapped  in  a  cloak,  sitting  on  a  mat  spread  on  the 
floor  before  the  fire.  He  is  racked  with  pain,  and  so 
doubled  up  that  his  head  rests  almost  between  his  knees. 

Besides  Revesby,  of  which  mention  has  already  been 
made,  Rievaulx  established  the  more  celebrated  house  of 
Melrose,  in  Scotland.  It  is  said  that  it  was  the  beauty 
of  the  life  led  at  Rievaulx  that  induced  some  of  the  monks 
of  St.  Mary's,  York,  to  yearn  for  the  same  and  to  leave 
their  own  cloister  for  Fountains  in  search  for  it. 

The  church  is  343  feet  long,  and  on  account  of  the  situ- 
ation of  the  ground  between  the  steep  hill  and  the  river 
Rie,  it  has  been  set  north  and  south.  The  choir  and  chan- 
cel occupy  seven  bays;  the  nave  is  166  feet  long  and  the 
crossing  arch  70  feet  high.  The  transepts  are  partly 
Norman,  the  upper  portion  being  Early  English.  The 
refectory,  built  over  some  cellarage,  shows  the  remains 
of  a  reading  pulpit,  and  there  are  vestiges  more  or  less 
distinct  of  the  dormitory  and  other  domestic  buildings. 

The  story  of  Rievaulx  is  that  of  a  house  which  went  on 
in  the  even  tenor  of  its  Cistercian  ways.  No  difficulty 
other  than  occasional  differences  as  to  tithes  and  pensions 
and  taxes  appears  to  have  troubled  the  calm  serenity 
of  the  monks  in  their  peaceful  valley  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rie.  It  was  by  no  means,  however,  an  idle  or  useless 
life  that  they  led  in  their  seclusion,  although  perhaps, 
with  the  exception  of  Abbot  iElred,  they  have  left  us  but 
little  evidence  of  their  literary  activity.  Their  daily  and 
nightly  round  of  service  would  probably  prove  more  than 

[225] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

sufficient  for  most  of  us  who  live  in  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury. To  rise  at  midnight,  night  after  night;  to  take  part 
for  a  couple  of  hours  of  the  night,  winter  and  summer, 
year  in,  year  out,  in  the  solemn  chanting  in  the  church; 
then  to  return  to  bed,  to  make  up  the  night's  rest  that  had 
been  broken,  only  to  be  roused  once  more  in  the  very 
early  morning  to  continue  the  round  of  God's  praises, 
with  practically  little  cessation,  till  the  midday  meal;  to 
sit  in  the  unwarmed  cloister  and  study;  to  read  books  not 
of  choice  but  those  appointed;  to  labour  for  a  time  for 
exercise  and  recreation  in  the  garden  or  in  the  field;  to 
have  long  fasts  and  abstinences;  to  keep  hours  of  silence; 
and  to  do  all  these  things,  not  as  an  experiment,  or  for  a 
day  or  a  week,  but  for  a  lifetime,  required  a  real  calling 
and  real  enthusiasm.  It  was  a  life  that  could  only  be 
lived  at  all  in  virtue  of  the  help  derived  from  the  thought 
that  God  had  given  the  soul  His  personal  summons  to 
serve  Him  in  this  way.  We  may — no  doubt  many  in 
these  days  will — consider  such  a  life  very  unnecessary  and 
very  useless ;  but  at  least  we  may  recognise  that  it  was  not 
a  slothful  life  nor  yet  an  idle  one,  and  that  years  and  cen- 
turies of  such  a  life  were  passed  without  any  record  ex- 
cept that  entered  in  the  Book  of  Life.  It  is  only  the 
trouble,  the  difficulty  and  the  scandal  that  has  found  its 
way  into  the  pages  of  Register  or  chronicle;  the  daily 
routine  of  duty  is  passed  by  without  a  notice  or  com- 
ment. 

The  last  abbot  of  Rievaulx  was  Richard  Blyton,  ap- 
pointed when  the  clouds  which  portended  the  storm  that 

[226  ] 


RIEVAULX    ABBEY    FROM    THE    TERRACE 


RIEVAULX 

overwhelmed  the  religious  houses  in  the  sixteenth  century 
were  already  gathering.  There  were,  indeed,  reports 
and  prophecies  about  the  impending  catastrophe  rife  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Rievaulx,  and  men  were  thought  to 
be  casting  envious  eyes  upon  the  property  of  the  monks 
long  before  the  end  came.  The  following  lines  were 
actually  quoted  in  the  abbey  before  the  dissolution: 

Two  men  came  riding  over  Hackney  way, 
The  one  on  a  black  horse,  the  other  on  a  grey; 
The  one  unto  the  other  did  say 
Look  yonder  stood  Revess,  that  fair  abbay. 

To  these  lines  in  the  manuscript  is  appended  the  follow- 
ing note:  "  Henry  Cawton,  a  monk,  some  time  of  Reves 
abbey  in  Yorkshire,  affirmed  that  he  had  often  read  this  in 
a  manuscript  belonging  to  that  abbey,  containing  many 
prophecies,  and  was  extant  there  before  the  Dissolution. 
But  when  he  or  any  other  of  his  fellows  read  it,  they 
used  to  throw  away  the  book  in  anger,  as  thinking  it  im- 
possible ever  to  come  to  pass."  Henry  Cawton,  alias 
Thirsk,  was  one  of  the  monks  who  signed  the  deed  of  sur- 
render on  December  3,  1539. 

There  had  been  considerable  difficulty  with  the  pre- 
vious abbot,  probably  about  1535,  in  regard  to  his  refusal 
to  carry  out  the  King's  desires.  He  had  shown  himself 
very  independent,  had  pleaded  exemption  from  such  visi- 
tations as  Henry  proposed,  and  even  the  Abbot  of  Foun- 
tains, who  was  called  in  to  try  and  bring  him  to  a  better 
mind,  failed  to  do  so.     He  gave  a  protest  in  Latin,  and 

[229] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

said  that  if  the  King  had  jurisdiction  the  letters  were 
evidently  obtained  by  fraud  and  surreptitiously,  and  "was 
from  Mr.  Crumwell  only."  Of  course  this  was  sufficient; 
it  was  impossible  to  tolerate  such  "  dissolute  living,"  since 
"  this  rebellious  mind  at  this  time  is  so  radicate,  not  only 
in  him,  but  also  in  many  of  the  religious." 

All  this  and  much  more  one  of  Crumwell's  agents 
writes  to  his  master.  The  sequel  does  not  appear,  but  the 
abbot,  William  Helmesly,  who  had  held  office  since  15 13, 
was  somehow  compelled  to  resign  and  Richard  Blyton 
was  appointed  in  his  stead.  William  Helmesly  does  not 
admit  that  his  act  was  rightly  called  a  "  resignation,"  and 
in  a  letter,  addressed  to  Crumwell  himself,  he  speaks  of 
his  having  been  "  deposed."  A  difficulty  subsequently 
rose  about  the  pension  that  was  promised  him,  and  the 
abbots  of  Fountains  and  Byland  were  appointed  by 
Crumwell  to  determine  the  amount.  This  they  did  at 
Ripon,  where,  having  discussed  the  matter  with  the  actual 
abbot  and  his  predecessor,  they  fixed  the  pension  at  £44 
a  year. 

The  commissioners  to  take  surrenders  of  religious 
houses  arrived  in  Yorkshire  at  the  beginning  of  Decem- 
ber, 1539.  Their  names  were  George  Lawson,  Richard 
Bellassis,  William  Blithman  and  James  Rokeby.  On  the 
fifteenth  of  that  month  they  wrote  to  Crumwell  from 
York  that  they  had  "  quietly  taken  the  surrrender,"  and 
dissolved  five  or  six  abbeys  and  friaries  and  had  arranged 
about  the  safe  custody  of  the  lead  and  bells.  One  of  the 
houses  mentioned  was  Rievaulx,  which  these  agents  had 

[230] 


RIEVAULX 

reached  from  Byland  on  December  3,  1539.  The  ac- 
counts of  these  officials  subsequently  presented  to  the 
Augmentation  Office  afford  us  some  particulars.  The 
goods  of  the  abbey  when  sold  produced  £281  5s.  4d. ;  the 
lead  from  the  roofs  and  gutters  had  been  melted  down  to 
140  fodders,  and  there  were  five  bells,  whether  broken 
up  or  still  whole  is  not  stated.  The  plate  of  the  abbey 
is  set  down  as  522  ounces,  including  ten  chalices  weighing 
185  ounces.  Of  these  items  the  plate  had  been  sent  up  to 
London,  and  also  <£i8i  5s.  4d.  had  been  paid  to  the  royal 
treasury.  Pensions  had  been  promised  to  the  abbot  and 
twenty-three  religious,  and  at  the  time  of  the  account 
these  had  been  paid.  The  abbot  also  had  been  given  the 
debts  due  to  the  house.  In  a  subsequent  pension  list  the 
name  of  the  late  abbot  is  found  set  down  as  having  a 
claim  fof  his  promised  pension  of  £44. 

The  account  likewise  mentions  that  at  Rievaulx  there 
were    ninety-one    retainers    of    all    kinds,    besides    the 
"  kitchen-boy,"  who  received  two  shillings  on  his  dis~ 
missal,  Thomas  the  plumber  and  six  chorister  boys,  who»« 
got  three  shillings  each.     When  the  Dissolution  had  beem 
effected,  the  ruins  were  left  to  decay.  The  very  seclusiom 
of  the  spot,  perhaps,  has  served  to  preserve  the  ruini 
better  than  we  might  have  expected  after  three  and  a  half 
centuries    of    neglect.     Even    fallen,    moss-grown    and 
damp-stained  as  it  is,  the  choir  of  Rievaulx  church  re- 
mains   one    of    the   most    glorious    works    of    English 
mediaeval  architecture. 

[233] 


fi 


ROMSEY 

OMSEY  was  an  ancient  abbey  of  nuns  pleasantly 
placed  on  the  banks  of  the  Test  in  Hampshire. 
At  one  time,  no  doubt,  the  ground  round  about 
was  marshy,  and  the  church  and  domestic  build- 
ings were  set  on  an  island  or  raised  ground  in  the  sur- 
rounding low-lying  country,  always  of  a  swampy  nature, 
and  at  times,  when  the  Test  overstepped  its  bounds,  prac- 
tically impassable.  This,  at  least,  is  what  we  should  ex- 
pect from  the  nature  of  the  situation  as  we  survey  it  to- 
day, and  indeed  it  is  what  the  name  of  Romsey,  or  "  Reed 
Island,"  would  convey  to  us. 

The  abbey  was  Benedictine,  and,  according  to  some 
authorities,  was  founded  by  a  Saxon  nobleman  named 
Ethelwold  in  the  reign  of  King  Edward  the  Elder  for 
a  community  of  nuns  placed  under  the  care  of  Elfleda, 
Ethelwold's  daughter.  We  are  on  surer  ground  when 
we  come  to  the  reign  of  King  Edgar.  In  967  the  monas- 
tery, which  had  previously  been  destroyed,  was  rebuilt, 
and  the  new  community  were  placed  under  the  Abbess 
Merwenna.  In  the  same  year  the  church  was  finished 
and  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  St.  Elfleda  at 
Whitsuntide   in  the   King's   presence.     Peter  Langtoft, 

[234] 


ROMSEY 

writing  in  the  fourteenth  century,  whilst  praising  Edgar 
because: 

MIkille  he  wirschipped  God  and  served  our  Lady 
The  abbey  of  Rumsaye  he  feffed  richly, 

says  that  he  placed  there  a  hundred  nuns,  and  though 
this  may  have  been  at  the  time  somewhat  of  a  poetical 
license,  at  the  time  he  wrote  a  hundred  may  well  have 
been  the  number  of  the  religious  in  the  cloister  of  Rom- 
sey,  and  we  know  that  at  one  election  of  an  abbess  about 
this  period  ninety  nuns  gave  their  votes. 

Before  the  end  of  the  tenth  century  it  seems  most  prob- 
able that  Romsey  suffered,  if  not  extinction,  at  least  great 
destruction  at  the  hands  of  the  Danes.  In  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  Chronicle  under  the  year  994  we  read  that  Olaf 
and  Sweyn  came  to  London  on  September  8  with  ninety- 
four  ships.  They  were  repulsed  and  sailed  down  the 
Thames,  "  and  then  they  went  thence  and  wrought  the 
greatest  evil  that  ever  any  army  could  do,  in  burning  and 
in  harrying  and  in  manslayings,  as  well  by  the  sea  coast 
as  in  Essex  and  in  Kent  and  in  Sussex  and  in  Hampshire, 
etc.,  and  all  the  army  then  came  to  Southampton,  and 
there  took  winter  quarters."  With  the  enemy  so  near  to 
Romsey  as  Southampton,  it  Is  hardly  likely  that  the  con- 
vent would  have  escaped  pillage  at  least  and  probably 
destruction.  It  is  possible  to  conjecture  that  the  nuns 
may  have  fled  for  protection  to  Winchester. 

The  absence  of  any  chronicle  of  Romsey  makes  it  im- 

[237] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

possible  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  house  in  any  detail. 
In  1085  the  Saxon  Chronicle  notes  that  Christina,  the 
sister  of  Edgar  Atheling,  took  the  veil  among  the  nuns 
here.  In  process  of  time  her  niece — the  daughter  of  her 
sister  Margaret — St.  Margaret  of  Scotland,  who  had  mar- 
ried Malcolm  III,  is  said  to  have  confided  to  the  care  of 
the  nuns  of  Romsey  her  daughter  Matilda,  afterwards 
known  as  Queen  Maud  the  Good  of  England.  In  the 
twelfth  century  Mary,  the  only  living  daughter  of  King 
Stephen,  became  a  nun  in  this  abbey  and  in  process  of 
time  abbess.  She  subsequently  caused  great  scandal 
throughout  England  by  leaving  her  convent  and  secretly 
marrying  Matthew,  Earl  of  Boulogne  and  Mortaigne. 
As  she  was  under  the  vow  of  chastity  by  the  laws  of  the 
church  her  marriage  was  null  and  void,  and  she  was  com- 
pelled to  return  to  her  convent.  The  two  daughters  ©f 
the  union  were  subsequently  legitimated  by  Parliament 
in  1 1 89. 

The  Great  Pestilence  of  1349  wrought  great  havoc  in 
the  community  of  Romsey.  At  the  election  of  Jean 
Jacke  as  abbess  in  1333  ninety  nuns  were  present  and  re- 
corded their  votes.  Sixteen  years  later  she  died,  in  1349, 
and  a  successor  was  elected  in  the  person  of  Joan  Gervays, 
who  received  the  royal  assent  on  May  7.  We  have  no 
detailed  account  of  the  death-roll  in  the  convent,  but  we 
may  judge  how  terrible  must  have  been  the  losses  by  the 
fact  that  the  number  of  the  nuns  is  found  to  have  been 
reduced  to  eighteen  in  1478  and  they  never  rose  above 
twenty-five  until  their  final  suppression.     In  fact,  if  it 

[238] 


ROMSEY 

had  not  been  that  the  nuns  of  the  Winchester  diocese  found 
in  Bishop  Edyndon,  during  the  terrible  scourge  of  the 
fourteenth  century  and  after,  a  special  patron,  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  Romsey  as  well  as  many  other  convents 
would  have  been  unable  to  recover  the  disaster.  In  a 
document  addressed  to  the  bishop  when  the  danger  was 
passed  they  say  that  "  he  counted  it  a  pious  and  pleasing 
thing  mercifully  to  come  to  their  assistance  when  over- 
whelmed by  poverty,  and  in  days  when  evil-doing  was  on 
the  increase  and  the  world  was  growing  worse,  and  they 
were  compelled  by  necessity  to  beg  in  secret.  It  was  at 
such  a  time  that  the  same  father  with  the  eye  of  com- 
passion, seeing  that  from  the  beginning  the  monastery 
was  slenderly  provided  for  with  land  and  possessions 
and  that  now  we  and  our  house,  by  the  barrenness  of  our 
land,  by  the  destruction  of  our  woods,  and  by  the  diminu- 
tion or  taking  away  from  the  monastery  of  due  and  ap- 
pointed rents,  because  of  the  dearth  of  tenants  carried  off 
by  the  unheard-of  and  unwonted  pestilence  come  to  our 
assistance  to  avert  our  entire  undoing." 

The  church  as  it  now  stands  measures  240  feet  in 
length,  the  presbytery  52  feet  and  the  transept  121  feet; 
the  low  central  tower  is  about  100  feet  high.  The  whole 
structure  is  mainly  Norman,  although  the  western  bays 
of  the  nave  are  Early  English  and  the  eastern  bays  as  high 
as  the  clerestory.  The  choir  extends  into  the  central 
crossing  and  the  transepts  have  eastern  apsidal  chapels. 
The  domestic  buildings  have  entirely  disappeared  and 
perhaps  the  only  relic  of  the  whole  is  the  interesting 

[241] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

carved  ancient  crucifix,  which  stood  outside  the  door 
leading  from  the  cloister  to  the  church  at  the  place  where 
the  nuns  used  to  assemble  before  their  choir  duties. 

In  1523  the  last  abbess  of  Romsey  was  elected  in  the 
person  of  Elizabeth  Ryprose,  and  in  the  Valor  Ecclesi- 
asticus  of  Henry  VHI  the  net  value  of  the  possessions  is 
given  as  just  over  £393  a  year.  The  convent  did  not, 
therefore,  come  under  the  provisions  of  the  act  suppress- 
ing the  lesser  religious  houses  in  1536.  The  ultimate 
fate  of  the  place  affords  an  example  of  the  personal  pres- 
sure that  was  exerted  by  the  King's  agents  on  the  superiors 
of  the  greater  abbeys  to  obtain  their  surrender  into  the 
King's  hands.  On  the  eve  of  its  dissolution  Romsey  main- 
tained a  community  of  twenty-five  nuns.  They  appear 
to  have  been  unwilling  to  fall  in  with  the  King's  views 
and  by  abandoning  their  religious  life  to  allow  their 
property  to  pass  into  Henry's  possession.  The  commu- 
nity shows  great  vitality  and  about  a  third  of  its  members 
had  made  their  religious  profession  after  July  28,  1534. 
One  of  these  was  Catherine,  youngest  daughter  of  Sir 
Nicholas  Wadham,  at  that  time  Governor  of  the  Isle 
of  Wight,  whose  elder  sister  Jane  had  been  for  some 
years  a  professed  nun  in  the  abbey.  At  this  time  the 
convent  steward  was  a  certain  John  Foster,  who  had 
a  house  at  Raddesley  near  Romsey.  His  position  would 
have  given  him  accurate  information  as  to  the  extent  and 
value  of  the  Romsey  property,  and  his  necessary  inter- 
course would  have  afforded  him  the  means  of  bringing 
influence  to  bear  upon  the  nuns.     It  is  not,  therefore,  sur- 

[242] 


ROMSEV  abbey:   the  nuns  doorway 


ROMSEY 

prising  to  find  that  Foster  was  selected  by  the  royal  agent 
for  this  service  and  that  he  sounded  the  nuns  as  to  their 
dispositions  to  do  Henry's  will  and  let  him  have  their 
property. 

In  the  report  John  Foster  sent  to  Sir  William  Seymour, 
he  says:  "  According  to  your  request  I  herein  signify  and 
subscribe  unto  you  the  state  of  the  house  of  Romsey — 
First  you  shall  understand  that  the  house  is  out  of  debt; 
also  the  plate  and  jewels  are  worth  £300  and  more;  Six 
bells  are  worth  £100  at  least;  also  the  church  is  a  great 
sumptuous  thing  all  free  stone  and  covered  with  lead, 
which  as  I  esteem  it,  is  worth  £300  or  £400  or  rather 
better."  Foster  then  goes  on  to  give  particulars  of  the 
rents  coming  to  the  house  from  the  lands,  on  some  at 
least  of  which  Seymour  had  set  his  heart.  He  then  con- 
cludes :  "  And  where  you  wrote,  that  I  should  ascertain 
you  whether  I  thought  that  the  abbess  with  the  rest  of  the 
nuns  would  be  content  to  surrender  up  their  house:  the 
truth  is  I  do  perceive  throughout  the  motion  that  your 
kinswomen  and  other  of  your  friends  made  for  you,  that 
they  would  be  content  at  all  times  to  do  you  any  pleasure 
they  may.  But  I  perceive  they  would  be  loath  to  trust 
to  the  Commissioners'  gentlemen,  for  they  hear  say  that 
other  houses  have  been  straightly  handled." 

The  kinswomen  of  Seymour  in  the  convent  by  whom 
Foster  helped  to  accomplish  the  voluntary  surrender  were 
Catherine  Wadham,  subprioress,  her  sister,  and  Eliza- 
beth Hill.  Apparently,  however,  his  design  was  unsuc- 
cessful, for  no  surrender  deed  of  the  abbey  is  extant, 

[  245  ] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

neither  are  the  names  of  either  the  abbess  or  her  nuns 
found  on  the  pension  lists. 

The  year  1539  saw  the  end  of  the  corporate  existence 
of  the  convent  of  Romsey.  The  destruction  of  the  domes- 
tic buildings  at  once  commenced,  and  if  to-day  the  "  great 
sumptuous  church,"  as  John  Foster  called  it,  is  still  stand- 
ing, we  owe  it  not  to  any  regard  for  it  on  the  part  of  the 
authorities,  but  to  a  purchase  made  on  February  20,  1545, 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  town.  The  deed  shows  that 
they  paid  £100  for  the  pile,  and  as  this  sum  is  much  below 
the  estimate  of  John  Foster,  it  is  possible  that  in  the  five 
intervening  years  the  place  may  have  been  much  despoiled 
and  defaced. 


[246] 


SHERBORNE 

HERBORNE  ABBEY  in  Dorset  was  an- 
ciently the  seat  of  a  bishop.  According  to  our 
historians,  about  the  year  705  the  west  Saxon 
See  of  Dorchester  was  divided,  and  whilst 
Bishop  Daniel  kept  his  chair  at  Winchester,  St.  Aldhelm 
became  first  bishop  of  the  See  of  Sherborne,  which  com- 
prised the  counties  of  Wilts,  Dorset,  Berks,  Somerset, 
Devon  and  Cornwall.  Sherborne  itself  is  described  by 
William  of  Malmesbury  as  having  been  a  very  insig- 
nificant town,  and  he  expresses  his  astonishment  at  its 
having  remained  for  so  long  a  time  a  Cathedral  city. 
The  erection  of  other  Sees  round  about  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, and  the  division  of  the  diocese  territorially  finally 
left  Sherborne  with  only  the  county  of  Dorset  as  its  share 
of  what  had  been  a  most  extensive  diocese.  As  an  episco- 
pal seat  it  came  to  an  end  in  1078  when,  having  been 
united  in  1058  with  Ramsbury  by  Bishop  Herman,  it  was 
finally  merged  into  the  new  diocese  of  Salisbury. 

The  first  bishop  of  Sherborne,  St.  Aldhelm,  was  an 
interesting  personality.  It  is  claimed  for  him  that  he 
was  the  first  Englishman  who  wrote  in  Latin,  and  he 
speaks  of  himself  as  having  been  the  first  to  introduce 

[247] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

poetry  into  the  country.  William  of  Malmesbury  in  re- 
lating his  life  describes  the  people  of  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try in  Aldhelm's  time  as  half  barbarians.  It  was  difficult 
to  instruct  them  as  they  were  little  disposed  to  come  to 
church  or  to  listen  to  discourses  on  religion.  In  order, 
therefore,  to  attract  them,  the  bishop,  who  was  a  musician 
of  no  mean  parts,  used  to  place  himself  on  a  bridge  with 
an  instrument  and  sing  to  the  passersby  ballads  of  his 
own  composition.  Mixing  grave  things  with  those  of  a 
lighter  vein,  the  Saint  gradually  won  the  attention  and 
then  the  hearts  of  the  people  to  religious  matters. 

The  actual  date  of  the  establishment  of  the  monks  at 
Sherborne  is  doubtful.  In  the  tenth  century,  as  in  so 
many  other  ancient  monastic  establishments,  secular 
canons  certainly  had  possession  of  the  place.  •  In  998, 
however,  Bishop  Wulsin  substituted  Benedictine  monks 
for  the  priests,  who  were  then  serving  the  church.  The 
charter  of  King  Ethelred  giving  full  permission  for  the 
change  is  extant,  and  from  that  time  its  connection  with 
the  Benedictine  Order  is  clear.  At  first,  of  course,  whilst 
bishops  still  ruled  the  See  of  Sherborne,  the  head  of  the 
monastery  would  have  been,  as  in  the  case  of  other  mo- 
nastic cathedrals,  a  prior.  The  bishop  was  held  to  have 
the  position  of  abbot,  and  in  many  cases  had  more  or  less 
practical  jurisdiction  over  the  cloister  as  well  as  the  ap- 
pointment of  many  of  the  officials.  When  in  1075  the 
See  of  Sherborne  became  merged  in  that  of  Old  Sarum 
or  Salisbury,  the  office  of  prior  was  apparently  continued, 
till  some  time  about  the  year  11 22,  when  Bishop  Roger 

[  248  ] 


!  a 

!  O 


SHERBORNE 

of  Salisbury,  having  united  the  Priory  of  Horton  to  Sher- 
borne, erected  the  latter  into  an  abbey  and  blessed  the 
Prior  Thurstan  as  its  first  abbot. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  St.  Stephen  Harding,  the 
second  founder  of  Citeaux  and  the  one  who  really  drew 
up  the  Cistercian  rule,  was  a  monk  from  Sherborne.  He 
received  his  education  in  the  monastery,  and  three  of  the 
monks  who  joined  him  at  Citeaux  are  said  to  have  also 
come  from  the  abbey. 

The  rectory  of  Sherborne,  which  in  the  "  taxation  of 
Pope  Nicholas  "  was  valued  at  sixty  marks,  was  a  prebend 
of  Salisbury  and  a  peculiar  of  that  See.  The  abbot  held 
a  singular  position  in  virtue  of  his  office  as  head  of  the 
Church  at  Sherborne;  he  was  a  prebendary  of  Salisbury 
and  had  his  stall  in  the  cathedral.  This  prebend  was 
held  by  each  successive  abbot  until  the  dissolution  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  when  being  considered  as  part  of  the 
office  of  abbot  then  suppressed  it  became  extinct. 

With  the  erection  of  the  monastery  into  an  abbey,  the 
work  of  rebuilding  and  reconstruction  began.  When  it 
was  over,  all  that  was  left  of  the  older  structure  was  the 
western  doorway  in  the  north  aisle  and  a  part  of  the  ad- 
joining wall-work.  Bishop  Roger  of  Salisbury  mani- 
fested his  continued  interest  in  the  abbey  by  building  the 
piers  of  the  tower  and  a  chapel  in  the  north  transept. 
The  south  porch  was  also  the  work  of  his  time,  and  then 
also  the  choir  was  arranged  under  the  tower.  In  the 
thirteenth  century  the  Ladychapel  was  rebuilt  and  in  the 
following  century  four  windows  were  placed  in  the  north 

[2SI] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

aisle,  but  these  must  soon  have  been  blocked  up  by  the 
building  of  the  cloisters.  These  cloisters  were  probably 
not  unlike  those  of  Gloucester;  they  had  six  windows  or 
bays  in  each  walk,  and  the  vaulting  was  in  the  style  known 
as  "  fan-traceried." 

At  the  western  end  of  the  church  stood  the  parish 
church  of  All  Hallows,  built  upon  the  site  of  a  great 
western  porch  twenty-nine  feet  broad,  which  originally 
had  opened  into  the  nave  by  a  double  row  of  pillars 
and  small  arches.  This  parish  church  had  been  removed 
out  of  the  nave  of  the  abbey  church,  and  the  abbot  built 
a  smaller  doorway  in  the  Norman  arch,  which  greatly 
irritated  the  people  already  apparently  opposed  to  their 
removal  from  the  church.  Leland  in  his  Itinerary  has 
left  us  a  quaint  account  of  what  happened  as  the  result  of 
the  existing  popular  ill-feeling.  "  The  body  of  the  abbey 
church,"  he  says,  "  dedicated  to  Our  Lady,  served  until 
a  hundred  years  since  for  the  chief  parish  church  of  the 
town.  This  was  the  cause  of  the  abolition  of  the  parish 
church  there :  the  monks  and  the  townsmen  fell  at  vari- 
ance because  the  townsmen  took  privilege  to  use  the  sacra- 
ment of  Baptism  in  the  chapel  of  All  Hallows.  Upon 
this  Walter  Gallow,  a  stout  butcher  living  in  Sherborne, 
defaced  clean  the  font  stone;  and  after,  the  variance 
growing  to  a  plain  sedition,  the  townsmen  by  the  help 
of  the  Earl  of  Huntingdon — and  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury 
on  the  monks'  part — a  priest  of  All  Hallows  shot  a  shaft 
with  fire  into  the  top  of  that  part  of  St.  Mary's  Church 
that  divided  the  east  part  that  the  monks  used  from 

[252] 


SHERBORNE    ABBEY:     CHOIR    AND    EAST    WINDOW 


SHERBORNE 

what  the  townsmen  used.  This  portion  chancing  at  that 
time  to  be  thatched,  the  roof  was  set  on  fire,  and  con- 
sequently the  whole  church,  and  the  lead  and  bells 
melted."  The  Lady  chapel  and  the  porch  alone  escaped, 
and  what  is  called  "  the  red  stain  of  fire  "  may  still  be 
seen  on  the  walls  of  the  church. 

This  was  in  1436,  and  the  abbot  of  the  day — Abbot 
Bradford — set  to  work  at  once  to  repair  the  disaster.  He 
forced  the  townsfolk  to  contribute  towards  the  rebuilding 
of  the  presbytery,  on  the  bosses  of  which  he  carved  a 
fiery  arrow  as  a  warning  against  further  feuds.  The  new 
vaulting  was  constructed  in  the  peculiar  fan-tracery  pat- 
tern of  the  cloister.  In  1459  the  Norman  triforium  and 
clerestory  of  five  bays  of  the  nave  were  pulled  down,  the 
south  aisle  was  ref  aced  with  the  old  materials  and  the  new 
windows  inserted.  Towards  the  close  of  the  century  the 
aisles  were  vaulted,  and  this  was  apparently  the  last  great 
work  done  by  the  monks. 

Of  the  domestic  buildings  some  small  portions  alone 
remain.  On  the  west  side  the  cellarer's  lodging  or  guest 
hall  with  a  fine  fifteenth-century  roof,  over  a  thirteenth- 
century  undercroft,  still  exists,  and  to  the  north  of  these 
there  are  remains  of  the  abbot's  quarters;  his  parlour  and 
guest  hall  for  example.  Near  the  site  of  the  refectory  is 
the  convent  kitchen  containing  a  fireplace  carved  with 
the  symbols  of  the  Evangelists.  The  cloisters  are  entirely 
gone  and  the  hexagonal  vaulted  conduit  of  15 10,  which 
used  to  be  in  the  centre  of  the  cloister  garth,  now  stands 
in  a  position  in  the  town.     Leland  calls  it  "  a  fair  castle 

[2SS] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

over  the  conduit  in  the  cloister  and  the  spouts  to  it,"  and 
says  it  was  made  by  John  Meer  or  Myer,  the  last  abbot 
but  one,  who  resigned  in  1535. 

The  last  abbot,  John  Barnstable,  was  elected  on  May 
3^  1 535)  ^^^  ^^  surrendered  the  monastery  on  March 
^8)  1539-  The  deed  was  acknowledged  by  his  signature 
and  those  of  sixteen  monks,  who  all  got  pensions.  The 
historian  of  Dorset  says  that  on  January  4,  1539,  the  King 
demised  the  property  to  Sir  John  Horsey,  Kt.  The  deed 
in  which  this  grant  is  conveyed  names  the  Great  Court, 
the  Abbot's  Garden,  West  Garden,  Pyggy's  Barton, 
Prior's  Garden,  etc.,  all  commonly  called  "  the  demesne 
lands  of  the  monastery,"  which  were  situated  in  Sher- 
borne, and  were  in  the  occupation  of  the  abbot  for  the  use 
of  the  house,  for  keeping  up  hospitality,  etc.  It  would 
appear  that  Sir  John  Horsey  in  anticipation  of  the  sur- 
render on  May  i,  1539,  paid  £1,242  3s.  9d.  to  the  King 
for  these  grants  and  at  the  same  time  £16  los.  6d.  for 
^'  the  site  of  the  church,  steeple,  campanile  and  church- 
yard of  the  monastery,"  and  other  property. 

A  note  printed  by  Dugdale  from  the  parish  Register 
of  Sherborne  carries  the  history  of  the  sale  of  the  ruins 
a  step  further  and  explains  how  the  beautiful  church 
was  saved  from  destruction.  The  note  runs:  "The 
feast  of  the  Annunciation  of  our  Lady  being  the  Shere 
Thursday  in  Ccena  Domini,  the  year  of  our  Lord  1540, 
and  the  thirty-first  of  our  Sovereign  Lord  King  Henry 
Vni,  the  monks  being  expelled  and  the  house  suppressed 
by  the  King's  authority,  Master  John  Horsey,  Kt.  Coun- 

[256] 


SHERBORNE 

cillor  to  the  King's  Grace,  bought  the  said  suppressed 
house  to  himself  and  to  his  heirs  in  fee  forever,  and  then 
the  said  Master  Horsey,  Knight,  sold  the  said  church  and 
the  ground  to  the  Vicar  and  parish  of  Sherborne  for  lOO 
marks,  to  them  and  their  successors  forever,  and  the  said 
Vicar  and  parish  took  possession  on  the  same  day  and 
year  above  said. — Per  me.  D.  Johannem  Chattmyll, 
Vicar."  This  is  probably  the  correct  account:  another 
story  says  that  the  parishioners  paid  £230  for  their  church 
to  Sir  John  Horsey,  and  in  order  to  raise  the  money  sold 
their  old  parish  church  of  All  Hallows  for  the  materials. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  this  sum  refers  to  the  sale  of 
the  roofing  of  the  minster,  with  that  of  the  bell  tower 
and  dormitory,  the  lead  of  which  was  purchased  for  that 
sum.  It  was  no  doubt  owing  to  the  prompt  action  of  the 
townsfolk  that  this  fine  minster  church  with  its  unrivalled 
fangroining — a  great  example  of  what  was  done  in  Eng- 
land for  architecture  even  during  the  Wars  of  the  Roses 
— was  preserved  to  us.  Thomas  Arundell,  the  King's 
receiver  for  the  county  of  Dorset,  acknowledges  having 
got  from  Sherborne  by  way  of  sales,  etc.,  during  the  first 
year  after  its  suppression  the  respectable  sum  of  £520  6s. 
83d. 


[257] 


TITCHFIELD 

*N  abbey  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 
and  St.  John  the  Evangelist  was  founded 
in  the  year  123 1  or  1232  at  Titchfield  in 
Hampshire  by  Peter  de  Rupibus,  Bishop  of 
Winchester.  This  prelate  had  already  established  Hales 
Owen,  another  house  of  the  same  Order  in  Shropshire, 
and  he  brought  thence  a  colony  of  religious  and  gave 
them  his  manor  of  Titchfield  for  the  purpose  of  a  second 
foundation.  The  abbey  was  placed  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  Titchfield  in  the  hollow  of  a  valley  which  reaches 
down  to  the  tidal  mouth  of  the  stream  which  there  finds 
its  way  to  the  sea  outside  the  Southampton  water. 

The  religious  were  of  the  Order  of  Premontre,  which 
had  been  founded  in  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury by  St.  Norbert.  On  Christmas  Day,  1 121,  the  white 
habit  of  the  canons  regular  was  given  to  Norbert  and 
some  forty  companions  at  a  place  called  Premontre,  in 
the  diocese  of  Laon,  and  for  many  centuries  this  monas- 
tery remained  the  mother  house  of  the  Order,  which  was 
called  after  it  the  Premonstratensian  Order.  The  first 
monastery  of  white  canons  in  these  islands  was  founded  in 

[258] 


TITCHFIELD 

Scotland  during  the  lifetime  of  St.  Norbert.  In  Eng- 
land the  first  colony  was  established  in  1143  at  New- 
house,  in  Lincolnshire,  the  community  being  furnished 
from  the  Abbey  of  Lisques,  near  Calais.  Within  100 
years  the  spread  of  the  new  Order  in  this  country  had 
been  phenomenal,  and  Newhouse  itself  had  established 
eleven  abbeys  in  various  parts  of  England.  Titchfield, 
which  was  commenced  in  1231,  less  than  a  century  after 
the  new  Order  had  first  taken  root  in  the  country,  was 
practically  the  last  of  the  English  foundations,  which 
numbered  in  all  thirty-five. 

Bishop  Peter  de  Rupibus  in  establishing  the  abbey 
reserved  to  himself  and  his  successors  in  the  See  of  Win- 
chester the  patronage  of  the  abbey,  which  remained  to 
them  in  right  of  the  bishopric  until  the  dissolution  of  the 
monasteries  in  the  sixteenth  century.  It  was  upon  August 
15,  1 23 1,  that  Richard,  the  first  abbot,  and  his  fellow 
canons  reached  Titchfield  to  take  possession  of  their  new 
foundation,  and  in  memory  of  the  day  the  house  was 
dedicated  to  Our  Blessed  Lady  of  the  Assumption. 

From  1232,  the  date  of  its  foundation,  to  1537,  that 
of  its  suppression,  the  monastery  was  ruled  by  a  line  of 
twenty  abbots.  Of  the  earlier  history  very  little  indeed 
is  known.  From  one  indication  it  would  appear  that  the 
Great  Pestilence  of  1349  visited  the  abbey  somewhat 
severely.  The  abbot,  Peter  de  Wynton,  was  blessed  only 
on  June  8,  1348,  and  died  on  August  14,  1349.  Possibly 
also  the  predecessor  of  this  abbot,  John  de  Combe,  who 
died  on  May  23,   1348,  when  the  plague  was  rife  in 

[26.] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

the  diocese,  may  have  been  also  a  victim  of  this  great 
scourge  which  carried  off  half  of  the  population  of 
England. 

In  1529  John  Max,  v^^ho  had  been  Abbot  of  Welbeck 
from  1500  and  who  had  been  consecrated  Bishop  of 
Elphin  in  1525,  was  elected  Abbot  of  Titchfield.  From 
that  time  till  1535,  when  he  died,  he  held  both  it  and  Wel- 
beck in  commendam.  The  last  abbot  was  named  John 
Sampson  or  Sympson,  and  he  ruled  only  till  1537,  when 
the  monastery  was  suppressed.  This  same  abbot  was  also 
a  bishop,  as  he  is  called  John  Salysbury,  suffragan  bishop 
of  Thetford. 

The  records  of  one  or  two  visitations  and  several  lists 
of  the  canons  in  the  last  decades  of  the  fifteenth  century 
afford  some  slight  details  about  this  house.  In  1478,  the 
visitor  appointed  by  the  General  of  the  Order  was  Bishop 
Redman,  who  was  also  Abbot  of  Shapp.  He  came  to 
Titchfield  on  July  2,  and  found  William  Austen,  the 
abbot,  and  a  community  of  thirteen  canons  living  there  at 
that  time.  He  reported  that  the  discipline  was  excellent 
and  that  he  had  seen  nothing  serious  to  correct  or  to  report 
to  the  General  Chapter.  To  attain  to  greater  perfection 
he  suggested  the  necessity  of  a  better  keeping  of  silence  in 
refectory  and  the  utility  of  certain  minor  changes  in  cere- 
monial. He  notes  that  at  the  time  of  the  last  visit  the 
house  was  £40  in  debt;  that  this  now  has  been  paid 
off,  and  a  good  provision  was  in  hand  in  the  way  of 
stores,  etc. 

The  same  visitor  arrived  on  his  next  official  tour  on 

[262] 


TITCHFIELD 

September  9,  1482.  The  number  of  the  community  was 
the  same,  although  many  names  in  the  previous  list  had 
disappeared  in  the  intervening  four  years,  their  places 
being  filled  by  others.  Special  commendation  is  passed 
on  the  abbot's  administration,  which  is  declared  to  be 
excellent.  Necessary  repairs  had  been  made  to  the  old 
buildings  and  new  ones  had  been  successfully  undertaken. 
Incidentally  we  hear  of  a  lake  that  was  situated  within 
the  enclosure;  because  in  the  case  of  one,  Ralph  Ax- 
minster,  which  was  brought  up  for  Bishop  Redman's  con- 
sideration, it  is  said  that  he  had  left  the  dormitory  at  night 
to  catch  fish  in  it.  Financially  the  abbey  remained  in 
the  same  excellent  state  as  before. 

Six  years  pass  before  the  next  visitation,  which  took 
place  on  July  23,  1488.  At  that  time  the  former  abbot, 
William  Austen,  had  been  dead  two  years,  and  Thomas 
Oke  or  Roke  was  reigning  in  his  stead.  According  to 
his  account  he  had  found  on  coming  to  office  that  the 
place  was  in  debt  £100,  but  during  his  two  years  of  office 
he  had  managed  to  pay  ofif  half  of  this  sum.  For  this 
and  for  other  evidence  of  good  administration  in  spirit- 
uals and  temporals  he  was  praised  by  the  visitor.  Three 
years  later,  on  June  i,  1491,  the  visitor  was  again  at  Titch- 
field.  There  had  been  rumours  set  about  of  various 
quarrels  amongst  the  community,  and  dissensions  and  con- 
tentions with  the  superior  were  spoken  of.  On  diligently 
inquiring  into  the  matter.  Bishop  Redman  confessed  him- 
self unable  to  find  anything  very  serious,  and  contented 
himself  with  a  general  exhortation  to  greater  fraternal 

[  263  ] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

charity  and  with  forbidding  all  to  speak  about  the  matters 
at  issue  after  his  departure.  Since  the  previous  visitation 
the  debts  of  the  house  had  been  diminished  by  £20. 

The  records  of  three  subsequent  visitations  exist: 
namely  those  of  1494,  1497  and  1500.  They  do  not 
materially  add  to  our  knowledge  of  the  abbey;  in  the  first 
it  is  interesting  to  hear  that  entire  peace  reigned  in  the 
place,  and  that,  although  the  house  was  still  in  debt. 
Bishop  Redman  thought  he  could  now  insist  upon  the 
building  of  a  proper  infirmary  for  the  sick  and  old.  In 
the  second  he  again  testifies  to  the  excellent  condition  in 
which  he  finds  the  discipline  of  the  establishment;  and  in 
the  third,  made  September  22,  1500,  he  prohibits  certain 
changes  in  the  habit,  which  were  creeping  in,  and  orders 
greater  care  in  the  keeping  of  silence.  He  ends  by  prais- 
ing the  abbot's  administration,  by  which  Titchfield  is 
once  more  entirely  freed  from  the  burden  of  debt.  The 
abbot,  Thomas  Oke,  lived  for  eight  years  longer,  and 
when  he  died,  in  1509,  he  was  succeeded  by  Thomas 
Blankepayne,  who  appears  as  a  novice  in  the  list  of  1482, 
and  had  consequently  been  six-and-twenty  years  in  reli- 
gion.    He  died  in  1529. 

The  inventory  of  goods  made  on  the  election  of  Richard 
Aubray  as  Abbot  of  Titchfield,  in  1420,  affords  us  a 
glimpse  at  the  treasures  of  the  sacristy.  "  We  found," 
say  the  commissioners,  "  in  charge  of  the  sacrist  a  silver 
gilt  cup,  to  place  the  Body  of  Christ  in,  two  large  gilt 
chalices  and  twelve  other  chalices,  of  which  six  were  gilt, 
one  great  gospel  book  with  divers  relics,  a  silver  gilt  vase 

[264] 


TITCHFIELD 

with  feet  and  full  of  relics,  a  great  silver  gilt  cross  with 
the  images  of  Mary  and  John  and  with  large  and  full- 
sized  feet,  a  processional  staff  with  a  great  ball  of  silver 
to  set  the  great  cross  in,  a  small  silver  gilt  cross  orna- 
mented with  stones;  with  a  small  ball  of  silver,  a  silver 
gilt  textum  with  a  great  beryl  and  a  list  of  the  dead  fixed 
in  it,  two  cruets  of  silver  gilt,  a  silver  gilt  vase  for  incense 
with  a  silver  spoon,  two  candlesticks  of  silver  gilt,  two 
silver  dishes,  a  silver  gilt  pastoral  staff,  a  box  containing 
divers  jewels,  a  box  for  a  chalice,  spoons  and  other  broken 
silver,  with  the  ancient  foot  of  a  small  cross,  a  pix  in 
which  to  place  the  Body  of  Christ. 

"  Also  in  the  treasury  of  the  church  was  found  three 
silver  gilt  cups  with  feet,  two  with  covers,  three  pieces 
of  gilt  plate  with  covers  and  one  with  feet,  one  piece 
with  the  cover  gilt  on  the  inside,  two  gilt  spoons,  a  salt 
gilt  and  with  a  cover,  four  other  silver  salts,  two  with 
covers,  one  large  piece  of  silver  plate  with  a  cover,  two 
other  pieces  of  silver  plate  with  feet  and  covers,  a  silver 
pear-shaped  piece  for  powder,  four  silver  bowls  with  feet 
and  covers,  two  silver  plates,  two  silver  dishes,  three  silver 
basins,  two  silver  ewers,  a  silver  plate  with  feet  for  spices, 
five  cups  with  feet  and  covers,  a  piece  of  plate  with  a 
low  foot,  thirty-eight  pieces  of  silver,  one  with  a  cover, 
twenty-four  silver  spoons." 

I  have  given  a  translation  of  this  interesting  inventory 
in  full,  as  an  example  of  the  riches  and  works  of  art  which 
must  have  been  gathered  together  in  the  various  religious 
houses  of  the  kingdom.     Of  these,  practically  no  trace 

[  265  ] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

now  exists.  Titchfield  was,  of  course,  after  all  only  one 
of  the  smaller  abbeys  when  compared  with  many  of  the 
others,  and  to  have  a  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  treas- 
ures such  as  these  in  its  keeping  in  the  fifteenth  century 
sets  the  imagination  at  work  to  picture  what  must  have 
existed  elsewhere. 

For  Titchfield  we  have,  perhaps,  a  more  complete  ac- 
count of  the  appearance  of  a  monastic  library  in  the  fif- 
teenth century  than  for  any  other  place.  "  There  are  in 
the  library  of  Titchfield,"  says  the  preface  of  the  old 
catalogue,  ''  four  cases  to  put  books  in.  Thus  on  the  east 
face  [i.e.,  opposite  the  door]  there  are  two:  viz.  [case] 
one  and  [case]  two.  On  the  south  side  is  case  three  and 
on  the  north,  case  four." 

Each  of  these  cases  had  eight  shelves,  marked  with  a 
letter  of  the  alphabet,  which  represented  a  division  of  the 
library.  Thus  roughly  in  case  one  were  placed  the  Bibles 
and  the  patristic  glosses  on  Holy  Scripture;  in  case  two 
was  what  might  be  termed  the  theological  portion  of  the 
library;  in  case  three  the  sermons,  legends,  regulae,  with 
canon  and  civil  law;  whilst  case  four  contained  books 
upon  medical  and  surgical  science,  upon  grammar,  logic 
and  philosophy  as  well  as  a  division  of  unclassed  volumes. 
The  letters  of  the  alphabet  afforded  further  division: 
thus,  B  was  fixed  to  seven  shelves  of  case  one,  and  con- 
tained the  various  glosses  on  the  Bible;  and  D,  affixed  to 
five  shelves  of  case  two,  was  assigned  to  the  works  of  St. 
Gregory  and  St.  Augustine.  Lastly,  on  the  first  folio  of 
each  volume  was  entered  the  shelf  letter,  followed  by  a 

[266] 


TITCHFIELD 

numoer  naming  its  position  on  the  shelf.  Thus,  to  take 
an  example,  the  volume  from  which  these  particulars  are 
taken  is  called  the  Rememoratorum  de  Tychefelde.  It 
has  on  its  first  page  the  press  mark  "  P.  X."  Turning  to 
the  catalogue  we  find  that  the  volume  is  entered  as  the 
tenth  book  of  shelf  P. 

The  same  number  of  canons  at  Titchfield  appears  to 
have  been  maintained  all  during  the  fifteenth  century  and 
indeed  until  the  suppression  in  1539.  The  abbey  escaped 
the  fate  of  the  smaller  houses  in  1536,  as  its  revenue  was 
above  £200  a  year,  namely  £249  i6s.  id.  The  site  was 
granted  by  Henry  VIII  to  Sir  Thomas  Wriothesley,  who 
commenced  at  once,  according  to  Leland,  to  build  "  a 
right  stately  house  " ;  chiefly,  adds  Dugdale,  "  out  of  the 
materials  of  the  abbey." 

A  report  "  concerning  the  monastery  of  Titchfield " 
was  written  to  Sir  Thomas  Wriothesley  immediately  after 
he  had  got  possession  of  it.  It  runs  thus:  " The  church 
is  the  most  naked  and  barren  thing  that  ever  we  knew, 
being  of  such  antiquity  and  long  continuance.  The  vest- 
ments which  you  gave  and  two  old  chalices  excepted, 
forty  will  be  the  rest.  At  Michaelmas  last  there  were 
two  team  of  oxen  and  now  not  one  ox,  but  a  few  young 
calves  and  lambs,  hogs  of  small  value;  certain  brewing 
vessels,  a  dozen  rusty  platters,  dishes  and  saucers.  .  .  . 
As  for  the  hangings  left  we  esteem  them  at  20s.  .  .  . 
The  debts  amount  to  £200.  The  abbot  and  convent  look 
by  promises  to  be  assured  during  their  life  yearly  £120; 
as  you  do  know  the  abbot  must  have  a  hundred  marks, 

[267] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

every  priest  X6  13s.  4d.,  being  eight  in  number  and  three 
novices  £5.  You  know  also  that  the  house  oweth  the 
King  for  the  first  fruits  above  200  marks  and  surely  so 
far  as  we  can  judge  the  transposition  and  alteration  of 
the  house,  which  of  necessity  must  be  done,  will  stand  you 
in  300  marks  at  the  least." 


[268] 


TINTERN 

^^^.^HE  Cistercian  abbey  of  Tintern  is  regarded  as 
m  ^1  typical  of  all  that  is  beautiful  and  picturesque 
^^^^V  in  the  ruined  abbeys  of  England.  Situated  on 
a  strip  of  level  ground  on  the  banks  of  the 
romantic  river  Wye,  and  backed  by  a  semicircle  of  heavily 
w^ooded  hills,  the  abbey  church  still  remains  almost  entire 
as  regards  its  main  architectural  features.  For  the  un- 
rivalled beauty  of  its  situation  and  for  its  completeness 
even  in  its  ruined  state  Tintern  is  thought  by  many  to 
stand  first  among  similar  memorials  of  the  wanton 
destruction  wrought  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

Our  Lady  of  Tintern  was  founded  in  1131  for  the 
Cistercian  Order  by  Walter  de  Clare,  the  grandson  of 
Walter  Fitzosbert,  Earl  of  Ew,  to  whom  the  Conqueror 
had  granted  the  land  in  this  part  which  he  could  obtain 
by  his  victories  over  the  Welsh.  Walter  de  Clare's  son, 
Gilbert  Stronbow,  became  the  first  Earl  of  Pembroke, 
and  when  he  came  to  die  in  1 148,  as  a  generous  benefactor 
he  was  buried  in  the  church  at  Tintern.  His  son,  again, 
was  Richard  de  Clare  or  Stronbow,  known  to  history  as 
the  conqueror  of  Ireland  in  the  reign  of  Henry  H.  It 
has  been  thought  by  some  that  he,  too,  was  buried  in  the 

[269] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

abbey  his  family  had  founded,  and  that  a  cross-legged 
effigy  of  a  knight  in  chain  armour  still  to  be  seen  in  the 
ruins  is  his  monument. 

The  monks  to  colonise  Tintern  came  from  the  abbey 
of  Aumone,  in  the  diocese  of  Chartres.  This  monastery 
had  itself  been  begun  only  ten  years  before,  but  had  in- 
creased sufficiently  to  find  an  abbot  and  twelve  monks  for 
the  new  venture  in  England — an  instance  of  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  Cistercian  movement  in  the  first  half-cen- 
tury of  its  existence.  Indeed,  the  multiplication  of  these 
houses  proceeded  at  such  a  rate  that  it  became  necessary 
to  put  a  stop  to  it  in  the  General  Chapter  of  the  Order. 

The  style  of  the  church  is  Transitional  from  Early 
English  to  Decorated;  it  was  begun  in  the  first  founda- 
tion of  the  abbey  by  Walter  de  Clare,  and  was  only 
finished  in  1287,  156  years  later.  It  was  almost  entirely 
rebuilt  in  the  thirteenth  century  by  Roger  Bigod,  Earl 
of  Norfolk.  Though  roofless,  this  beautiful  specimen  of 
architecture  remains  almost  perfect.  One  or  two  pillars 
have  fallen,  and  the  northern  arcade  of  a  nave  of  six  bays 
is  broken,  but  the  walls  are  perfect,  and  the  stone  appears 
little  injured  by  exposure  to  the  weather.  The  church 
measures  245  feet  in  length;  the  transepts  no  feet;  and 
the  four  pointed  gables  form  a  feature  in  the  church. 
The  east  end  has  a  great  two-light  window  64  feet  high. 
*'  This  window,  with  its  one  tall  mullion  ramifying  at 
the  top  and  leaving  the  large  open  spaces  beneath  to 
admit  the  distant  landscape,  is  one  chief  feature  of  Tin- 
tern  "  (Gilpin).     The  west  window  opposite  has  seven 

[270] 


TINTERN 

lights,  and  it  needs  little  imagination  to  picture  what  a 
glorious  sight  it  must  have  been  when  filled  with  painted 
glass. 

The  central  arch  at  the  crossing  was  70  feet  high,  and 
the  choir  extended  one  bay  into  the  nave.  The  cloisters 
were  1 1 1  feet  on  two  sides,  and  99  feet  on  the  other  two, 
and  the  offices  were  arranged  in  the  usual  manner  of  Cis- 
tercian houses;  owing  to  the  position  of  the  ground,  the 
domestic  buildings  were  on  the  north  side  of  the  church. 
Of  these  very  little  indeed  remains  of  interest;  they  have 
been  gradually  utilised  in  the  building  of  cottages,  roads 
and  pigstyes  in  the  neighbourhood. 

From  the  accounts  of  the  abbey  given  by  the  abbot, 
Richard  Wych,  for  the  Valor  Ecclesiasticus  in  1535,  it 
appears  that  the  abbey  had  a  gross  income  of  £356  lis. 
6d.  This  was  greatly  reduced  by  necessary  payments, 
fees  and  pensions,  etc.  According  to  the  charter  of 
foundation  the  porter,  laundress,  church-clerk  and  ferry- 
men had  large  carrodies  or  annual  payments,  which,  how- 
ever, were  disallowed  by  Henry  VIII;  gifts  to  the  poor 
were  made  on  Maundy  Thursday,  on  Christmas  Day  and 
the  Feast  of  the  Purification,  Palm  Sunday,  the  Assump- 
tion and  All  Saints  Day  for  the  soul  of  Roger  Bigod,  Earl 
of  Norfolk  and  his  ancestors,  and  again  on  the  Feast  of  St. 
Nicholas  for  his  anniversary.  In  some  accounts  we  find 
that  a  sum  of  £2  each  was  allowed  yearly  for  the  clothing 
of  the  monks;  that  there  were  six  servants  of  the  abbot; 
three  men  fishing  in  the  Severn  for  the  monastery;  four 
kitchen  servants,  a  tailor,  a  barber,  a  stableman  and  a 

[273] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

cutter  of  wood.  Besides  these  curious  particulars  the 
accounts  reveal  the  fact  that  the  royal  officials,  whose 
purpose  it  was  to  get  as  much  for  the  tenth  as  possible, 
refused  to  allow  the  deductions  claimed  by  the  abbot. 
From  the  total  receipt  of  £256  lis.  6Jd.  Abbot  Wych 
claimed  a  deduction  making  the  taxable  amount  to  be 
only  £192  IS.  4d.  The  King  claimed  that  the  whole  had 
been  understated,  and  Tintern  was  charged  on  a  revenue 
of  £258  5s.  lod. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  opinion  of  the  Crown 
officials  in  view  of  taxation,  after  the  passing  of  the  Act 
of  Parliament  in  1536  dissolving  the  smaller  monasteries 
which  had  an  income  of  less  than  £200  a  year,  Tintern 
was  apparently  adjudged  to  fall  within  that  limit.  For 
some  reason,  which  does  not  appear,  the  abbot  was  sent 
for  by  Crumwell  up  to  London,  as  we  know  from  his 
reply  saying,  "  I  have  received  your  letters  this  Saturday 
morning  by  the  servant  of  John  Winter,  of  Bristol,  direct- 
ing me  to  come  at  once  to  you.  .  .  .  Had  I  had  them  on 
Friday  I  should  have  started  at  once,  but  now  will  wait 
till  Monday,  over  the  High  Feast  of  Our  Blessed  Lady," 
probably  March  25,  1537.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
business,  it  was  probably  connected  with  the  then  impor- 
tant matter  of  the  forced  suppression  of  the  house.  It 
was  taken  possession  of  by  Henry,  Earl  of  Worcester,  in 
the  name  of  the  King,  on  September  i,  1537,  and  shortly 
afterwards  that  nobleman  had  a  grant  from  the  Crown 
of  the  property. 

Few  details  about  the  actual  suppression  and  work  of 

[274] 


TINTERN 

"defacing"  the  "superfluous  buildings,"  as  the  wanton 
destruction  was  called,  have  come  down  to  us.  As  the 
history  of  these  dissolutions  was  much  the  same  in  every 
case  it  may  be  of  interest  to  give  the  account  of  what  took 
place  in  regard  to  another  Cistercian  house  in  the  words 
of  one  who  was  a  boy  at  the  time  and  who  heard  it  from 
one  actually  present.  "  In  the  plucking  down  of  these 
houses,"  he  writes,  "  for  the  most  part  this  order  was 
taken:  that  the  visitors  should  come  suddenly  upon  every 
house  unawares.  .  .  .  For  as  soon  as  the  visitors  were 
entered  within  the  gates,  they  called  the  abbot  and  other 
officers  of  the  house  and  caused  them  to  deliver  all  the 
keys  and  took  an  inventory  of  all  their  goods,  both  within 
doors  and  without.  For  of  all  such  beasts,  horses,  sheep, 
and  such  cattle  as  were  abroad  in  pasture  or  grange- 
places,  the  visitors  caused  to  be  brought  into  their  pres- 
ence. And  when  they  had  done  so  [they]  turned 
the  abbot  and  all  his  convent  and  household  forth  of 
doors. 

"  This  thing  was  not  a  little  grief  to  the  convent  and  all 
the  servants  of  the  house,  departing  one  from  another  and 
especially  such  as  with  their  conscience  could  not  break 
their  profession.  It  would  have  made  a  heart  of  flint 
melt  and  weep  to  have  seen  the  breaking  up  of  the  house, 
the  sorrowful  departing  [of  the  brethren],  and  the  sudden 
spoil  that  fell  the  same  day  as  their  departing  from  their 
home.  And  everyone  had  everything  good,  cheap,  ex- 
cept the  poor  monks,  friars  and  nuns,  who  had  no  money 
to  bestow  on  anything.     This  appeared  at  the  suppression 

[  277  ] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

of  an  abbey,  hard  by  me  called  Roche  Abbey.  ...  At 
the  breaking  up  of  this  an  uncle  of  mine  was  present,  be- 
ing well  acquainted  with  several  of  the  monks  there. 
And  when  they  were  put  out  of  the  house,  one  of  the 
monks,  his  friend,  told  him  that  everyone  of  the  convent 
had  given  to  him  his  cell  in  which  he  lived  wherein  was 
not  anything  of  price,  but  his  bed  and  apparel,  which 
was  but  simple  and  of  small  price.  This  monk  wished 
my  uncle  to  buy  something  of  him,  who  said:  '  I  see  noth- 
ing that  is  worth  money  for  my  use.'  '  No,'  said  he,  *  Give 
me  two  shillings  for  my  cell  door,  which  was  never  made 
with  five  shillings.'.  .  .  Such  persons  as  afterwards 
brought  them  corn  or  hay  or  suchlike,  finding  all  the 
doors  either  open  or  the  locks  and  '  shackles '  plucked 
down  or  the  door  itself  taken  away,  went  in  and  took 
what  they  found  and  filched  it  away. 

"  Some  took  the  service  books  that  lay  in  the  church 
and  put  them  upon  their  wam  '  coppes '  to  piece  them; 
some  took  windows  of  the  hayloft  and  hid  them  in  their 
hay,  and  likewise  they  did  of  many  other  things.  Some 
pulled  forth  the  iron  hooks  out  of  the  walls  that  had 
brought  none,  when  the  yeomen  or  gentlemen  of  the 
county  had  brought  the  timber  of  the  church. 

"  The  church  was  the  first  thing  that  was  put  to  spoil 
and  then  the  abbot's  lodging,  the  dorter  and  frater  with 
the  cloister  and  all  the  buildings  thereabout  within  the 
abbey  walls.  Nothing  was  spared  but  the  ox-houses  and 
swine-cots  and  such  other  houses  of  office  that  stood  with- 
out the  walls,  which  had  more  favour  shown  them  than 

[278] 


TINTERN    ABBEY  :     INTERIOR 


TINTERN 

the  very  church  itself,  which  was  done  by  the  advice  of 
Crumwell,  as  Fox  reporteth  it  in  his  book  of  Acts. 

"  It  would  have  pitied  any  heart  to  see  what  tearing 
up  of  the  lead  there  was,  what  plucking  up  of  boards  and 
throwing  down  of  sherds.  And  when  the  lead  was  torn 
off  and  cast  down  into  the  church  and  the  tombs  in  the 
church  all  broken  (for  in  most  abbeys  were  divers  noble 
men  and  women — yea,  in  some  abbeys  Kings  whose  tombs 
were  regarded  no  more  than  the  tombs  of  inferior  per- 
sons) for  to  what  end  should  they  stand  when  the  church 
over  them  was  not  spared  for  their  sakes?  All  things  of 
price  either  spoiled,  carried  away,  or  defaced  to  the  utter- 
most. 

"  The  persons  who  cast  the  lead  into  fodders  plucked 
up  all  the  seats  in  the  choir,  wherein  the  monks  sat  when 
they  said  service,  which  were  like  to  the  seats  in  minsters 
and  burned  them  and  melted  the  lead  therewith,  although 
there  was  wood  plenty  within  a  flight  shot  of  them.  .  .  . 
In  the  rocks  were  found  pewter  vessels  that  were  con- 
veyed away  and  there  hidden,  so  that  it  seemeth  that  every 
person  bent  himself  to  filch  and  spoil  what  he  could. 
Yea,  even  such  persons  were  content  to  spoil  them,  that 
seemed  not  two  days  before  to  allow  their  religion  and  do 
great  worship  and  reverence  at  their  Matins,  Masses  and 
other  services  and  all  other  of  their  doings.  This  is  a 
strange  thing  to  consider  that  they  who  could  this  day 
think  it  to  be  the  house  of  God,  the  next  [did  hold  it  as] 
the  house  of  the  devil ;  or  else  they  would  not  have  been  so 
ready  to  have  spoiled  it." 

[281] 


THE   GREATER  ABBEYS 

There  is  very  little  doubt  that  in  its  main  features  the 
account  of  the  spoliation  of  Roche  Abbey  is  the  same  as 
that  of  Tintern.  The  fact  that  the  latter  was  situated  in 
an  isolated  place  may  possibly  have  saved  it  from  wanton 
destruction  and  may  account  for  the  state  of  comparative 
preservation  in  which  we  find  the  church  to-day.  The 
accounts  of  the  Augmentation  Office,  which  was  estab- 
lished to  deal  with  the  confiscated  property  and  the  ex- 
pected spoils  which  would  fall  to  the  Crown,  gives  the 
very  inadequate  sum  of  £132  8s.  yd.  as  the  total  received 
from  the  plunder  of  Tintern. 


[  282  ] 


TORRE   ABBEY 

^^^^HE  situation  of  Torre  Abbey  in  the  olden  days 
m  w\  must  have  been  ideal.  Placed  on  the  sea  coast 
^^^^V  of  Devon,  it  looked  southw^ard  across  Torre 
Bay  towards  Brixham,  and  it  is  said  to  have 
been  the  best  provided  of  all  the  five-and-thirty  houses 
of  the  English  Premonstratensian  canons.  It  was  founded 
in  1 196  by  William  Brinier,  was  endowed  with  much 
property  in  the  neighbourhood  and  was  given  the  pat- 
ronage of  several  churches  and  chapels.  The  Abbey  of 
Welbeck  became  the  mother  house  of  Torre,  sending  one 
of  their  number,  Adam,  with  six  companions  to  start  it; 
but  after  three  years  and  a  half  Adam  was  translated  to- 
Newhouse  as  abbot.  The  list  of  the  superiors  at  Torre 
is  far  from  complete,  and  little  is  known  of  the  history 
of  this  important  abbey  beyond  what  may  be  gathered' 
from  the  lately  published  records  of  the  Order  int 
England. 

One  curious  story  connected  with  the  house  in  the 
fourteenth  century  has  been  preserved  in  the  Register  of 
Bishop  Brantyngham  of  Exeter.  In  1390  the  bishop 
solemnly  excommunicated  the  unknown  person  or  per- 
sons who  had  spread  abroad  a  story  that  the  Abbot  of 
Torre,  William  Norton,  had  murdered  and  beheaded 

[283] 


THE   GREATER  ABBEYS 

one  of  his  canons,  Simon  Hastings.  This  accusation  the 
bishop  pronounced  to  be  an  infamous  and  malicious  false- 
hood, all  the  more  clearly  so  as  the  canon  in  question  was 
actually  alive  and  had  been  seen  by  many  both  at  his 
abbey  and  elsewhere. 

In  the  year  1456  the  Abbot  of  St.  Radegund's  was  the 
representative  in  England  of  the  Abbot  of  Premontre. 
As  such  he  possessed  all  powers  of  visitation  over  the 
houses  of  the  Order,  and  was  answerable  to  the  Chapter 
of  Premonstratensians  for  the  good  discipline  of  the 
English  branch.  Acting  in  that  capacity,  on  September 
10,  1456,  he  wrote  to  the  Abbot  of  Torre,  Richard  Cade, 
then  recently  appointed,  about  certain  rumours  he  had 
heard  concerning  the  prior,  William  Answell.  His  in- 
fluence in  the  house  was  a  bad  one,  according  to  reports, 
as  he  was  a  sower  of  discord  and  contention,  and  the 
visitor  directs  that  the  prior  be  forthwith  sent  to  him  at 
St.  Radegund's  that  the  matter  be  inquired  into.  In  the 
same  letter  the  writer  says  that  he  understands  that  the 
monastic  property  has  been  squandered,  that  the  abbot 
does  not  take  advice,  has  taken  too  great  burdens  on  the 
house  and  has  not  tried  to  put  a  stop  to  the  hurtful  dis- 
sensions which  take  place  in  his  monastery.  He  further 
suggests  to  him  the  propriety  of  resigning  his  office  as 
abbot. 

In  1478  we  have  the  first  of  the  regular  series  of  visi- 
tations which  afford  an  insight  into  the  inner  history  of 
Torre  for  the  last  quarter  of  the  fifteenth  century.  In 
that  year  Bishop  Redman,  who  was  also  Abbot  of  Shapp 

[284] 


i 


TORRE   ABBEY 

and  visitor  of  the  Order  in  England,  appointed  by  the 
abbot  general  of  Premontre,  came  to  Torre,  on  August 
I,  on  his  first  visitation.  One  canon  confessed  before 
him  the  crime  of  "  apostasy,"  theft  and  rebellion,  which 
having  been  put  into  plain  language  meant  leaving  his 
enclosure  without  permission,  disobeying  his  superior  and 
spending  money  without  leave.  He  was  sent  to  do  pen- 
ance at  the  monastery  of  Newhouse  for  forty  days  on 
bread  and  water,  followed  by  three  years'  imprisonment, 
and  a  further  detention  there  for  another  term  of  ten 
years.  Another  canon  accused  of  apostasy  in  the  same 
sense  was  ordered  to  Welbeck  to  undergo  similar  punish- 
ment. Bishop  Redman  enjoined  the  abbot  to  try  and  in- 
crease the  number  of  the  religious  at  Torre  by  every 
means  in  his  power,  and  he  gave  certain  regulations  for 
the  community  life.  The  brethren  were  not  to  drink 
after  Compline  without  urgent  need,  and  never  without 
full  permission.  The  time  of  Vespers  was  to  be  at 
4  o'clock,  both  summer  and  winter,  and  all  were  to  be 
in  bed  by  8  p.  m.  He  praises  the  general  administration 
of  the  abbot,  however,  and  does  not  find  anything  of  grave 
importance  to  correct  or  to  refer  to  the  General  Chapter. 
In  his  next  visitation  on  September  21,  1482,  Bishop 
Redman  is  able  to  praise  the  administration  of  Abbot 
Cade  in  high  terms.  "  In  obtaining  what  is  for  the  good 
of  the  monastery,"  he  says,  "  the  abbot  is  provident  and 
circumspect  beyond  any  other  abbot  of  the  Order."  At 
this  time  one  of  the  canons  was  accused  of  breaking  open 
the  abbot's  treasury,  but  on  inquiry  he  was  able  to  clear 

[287] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

himself.  The  visitor  finds  that  silence  might  be  kept 
better,  and  that  the  tonsure  was  getting  too  big,  but  there 
are  no  grave  matters  to  be  corrected  or  reported  to  the 
Chapter.  Incidentally  we  see  from  the  document  that 
the  abbot  was  getting  somewhat  old  and  infirm — he  was 
dead  before  the  next  visit — and  the  bishop  charges  the 
community  to  try  and  assist  him  when  his  troubles  and 
sickness  should  increase  upon  him  and  he  should  become 
less  able  to  see  to  all  things  himself. 

It  is  six  years  before  there  is  any  record  of  another 
visit  to  the  abbey.  This  time,  for  some  reason — "  out 
of  sollicitude  for  the  monastery"  the  document  says — 
the  bishop  did  not  actually  come  to  Torre  itself.  He  re- 
mained at  their  house  of  Durford  in  Sussex,  and  thither 
the  abbot  and  a  proctor  for  the  community  went  to  meet 
him.  In  this  visit  he  gives  the  best  report  to  his  investi- 
gations. Everything  is  in  an  excellent  state  through  the 
administration  of  the  abbot,  now  Thomas  Dare  or  Dyer, 
and  the  community  have  a  filial  affection  for  him  and 
obey  him  in  all  confidence. 

At  the  time  of  the  abbot's  appointment  the  house  was 
in  debt  by  fifty  marks,  now  that  sum  has  been  paid  and 
a  hundred  marks  are  due  to  them.  In  the  same  way  the 
stock  and  grain  has  increased  by  "  his  circumspect  pro- 
vision." 

Three  years  later,  on  May  24,  149 1,  Bishop  Redman 
comes  again  to  Torre  to  discharge  his  duty  as  visitor. 
This  time  a  grave  charge  of  incontinence  is  brought 
against  one  of  the  community,  but  after  full  and  patient 

[  288  ] 


TORRE   ABBEY 

inquiry  the  visitor  finds  him  innocent,  but  imprudent. 
He  urges  on  all  the  need  of  being  on  their  guard  to  avoid 
giving  any  occasion  for  suspicion  by  their  conduct.  He 
reminds  them  of  the  rule  of  the  Order  that  no  one  is  to 
eat  or  drink  in  any  house  within  a  league  of  their  monas- 
tery, and  he  forbids  all  games  played  for  money,  especially 
the  game  of  tennis.  The  canons  evidently  took  the  admo- 
nition of  the  visitor  to  heart  and  as  a  community  pulled 
themselves  together,  for  three  years  later,  on  June  12, 
1494,  the  bishop  was  able  to  declare,  after  examination, 
that  he  had  found  all  things  in  good  order  and  all  laws 
faithfully  observed  by  both  superior  and  subjects.  The 
community  also  at  this  time  were  in  a  flourishing  state; 
there  were  no  less  than  six  novices  on  the  list,  all  of  whom 
persevered  and  appear  in  the  list  three  years  later  as 
canons  professed. 

Bishop  Redman  made  two  other  visitations  of  Torre, 
in  1497  and  in  1500.  He  had  now  become  bishop  of 
Exeter,  in  which  diocese  Torre  Abbey  was  situated.  In 
order,  therefore,  to  safeguard  for  the  abbey  its  privilege 
of  exemption  from  episcopal  visitation,  on  each  of  these 
occasions  he  protests  that  he  has  come  to  visit  the  place 
not  as  Bishop  of  Exeter,  but  as  the  commissary  of  the 
Abbot  of  Premontre,  which  ofiice  he  still  continues  to 
hold.  In  1497  he  finds  everything  in  a  most  satisfactory 
state.  The  place,  he  says,  is  governed  in  all  things  to  the 
honour  of  God  and  to  the  good  of  the  monastery.  "  So 
much  is  this  so,  that  nothing  whatever  there  offended  my 
sight,  but  everything  proper  to  a  holy  life."    In  the  visita- 

[289] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

tion  of  1500  the  bishop  renews  his  commendation  of  the 
rule  of  the  abbot;  he  finds  all  things  in  an  excellent  state, 
but  corrects  two  of  the  canons  for  carelessness  in  regard  to 
silence.  The  community  is  seen  to  have  increased  in 
numbers  in  this  last  glimpse  we  get  of  it.  Twenty  years 
before  it  was  fourteen,  row  it  is  eighteen,  four  of  whom 
are  novices. 

The  last  abbot  was  Simon  Rede,  elected  and  confirmed 
by  the  King  in  August,  1523.  He  and  his  fellow  canons 
surrendered  the  monastery  to  the  King,  February  23, 
1539,  before  the  commissioner,  William  Petre.  The 
abbot  and  his  religious  each  received  a  pension.  One  of 
the  canons,  John  Estrige,  died  within  a  month  of  his 
being  expelled  from  his  old  home. 

The  church  was  200  feet  long,  but  very  little  of  it  re- 
mains by  which  to  judge  of  its  architecture.  There  are 
now  standing  of  the  church  only  portions  of  the  central 
tower,  the  east  end  of  the  choir,  a  south  chapel:  and  of 
the  domestic  buildings,  the  entrance  of  the  Chapter 
House,  the  refectory,  a  fourteenth-century  building  52 
feet  by  25  feet;  and  a  large  gateway  of  the  same  date.  Of 
the  outbuildings  a  fine  decorated  barn  120  feet  long  still 
stands.  Dr.  Oliver  says  of  Torre  that  "  nothing  can  ex- 
ceed the  beautiful  situation  of  this  great  abbey;  and  if  we 
may  judge  by  the  remains  of  the  church,  of  the  Chapter 
House  and  other  buildings,  the  magnificence  of  the  fabric 
did  honour  to  the  situation."  When  Leland  visited  the 
abbey  three  fair  gateways  were  standing.  One  gateway 
remains, 

[290] 


TORRE   ABBEY 

The  sale  of  the  buildings  and  effects  of  the  abbey  began 
immediately  here  as  elsewhere.  In  the  accounts  of  the 
year  ending  Michaelmas,  1340,  Sir  John  Arundel  credits 
the  Augmentation  Office  with  the  amount  of  £43  los. 
for  the  sake  of  bells  and  superfluous  buildings  at  Torre. 
During  the  same  time  the  same  agent  had  expended  £79 
13s.  yd.  in  Devon  and  Cornwall  in  "  defacing,  breaking 
up  and  pulling  down  divers  churches,  bell  towers, 
cloisters  and  other  buildings  of  late  monasteries."  Sir 
John  Arundel  likewise  acknowledges  having  received 
from  various  rents  of  Torre  lands  £180  7s.  ijd. 

Two  grants  of  the  property  are  registered  the  year  after 
the  Dissolution.  One  on  March  4,  1540,  to  Sir  John 
Ridgeway,  and  the  second  on  March  10  to  Sir  Roger 
Buett.  The  receipts  from  the  rents  paid  in  1540  to  Sir 
Thomas  Arundel  were  £294  8s.  2J. 


[291] 


THORNEY 

XN  what  is  known  as  "  the  Isle  of  Cambridge  " 
in  the  fen  country,  and  about  equally  distant 
from  Peterborough  and  Crowland,  stood  the 
Benedictine  house  of  Thorney.  It  is  said  that 
Saxulph,  the  first  Abbot  of  Peterborough,  built  a  hermi- 
tage on  this  spot  about  the  year  662.  It  was  then  and  for 
200  years  afterwards  called  Ancarig,  and  it  is  suggested, 
though  the  suggestion  comes  indeed  from  Ingulph's  sus- 
pected chronicle,  that  the  name  was  derived  from  the  ex- 
istence of  several  anchorites,  who  apparently  lived  there 
under  the  rule  of  a  prior.  Whatever  may  have  been  its 
early  history  Ancarig,  like  other  monasteries,  was  de- 
stroyed by  the  Danes,  and  it  was  not  until  972  that,  being 
re-established  by  St.  Ethelwold  of  Winchester  with  the 
help  and  authority  of  King  Edgar,  Benedictine  monks 
were  placed  there  as  at  Peterborough  and  Crowland. 
The  place  then  became  known  as  Thorney — or  the  island 
of  thorns — from  the  trees  that  grew  luxuriantly  upon  it, 
an  island  by  reason  of  the  waters  that  surrounded  it.  It 
was  considered  a  specially  sacred  island,  and  except  to 
offer  their  devotions  in  the  church,  no  women  were  al- 
lowed to  set  foot  on  the  island,  and  the  nearest  place 
where  they  were  permitted  to  stay  was  nine  miles  away. 

[292] 


iBBSiPrrrffmvT  ■ 


THORNEY 

St.  Ethelwold  brought  to  Thorney,  possibly  on  account 
of  its  secluded  position,  the  body  of  St.  Botulph  and  many 
other  relics  of  English  Saints,  which  had  been  saved  from 
destruction  during  the  Danish  wars.  Amongst  others  he 
is  said  to  have  obtained  the  body  of  St.  Benet  Bishop 
from  the  destroyed  monastery  of  Weremouth.  Edgar  in 
his  charter  of  foundations  declares  the  monastery  dedi- 
cated to  Our  Saviour  and  His  Blessed  Mother.  He  had 
chosen  the  spot,  he  says,  because  here  two  brothers,  Tan- 
cred  and  Tortred,  had  lived  the  life  of  anchorites,  the  one 
being  martyred,  the  other  giving  to  the  world  a  glorious 
confession  of  the  Faith.  Their  sister  Tova  also  had  fol- 
lowed them  in  her  manner  of  life  and  in  the  holiness  of 
her  death.  Then  devastation  and  entire  destruction  had 
almost  obliterated  the  memory  of  what  had  been,  until  a 
pious  woman,  Ethelfled,  bought  the  site  and  built  upon  it 
a  monastery  and  church.  This  was  now  dedicated  to  the 
Holy  Trinity:  the  eastern  part  of  the  presbytery  was  con- 
secrated to  "  the  honour  of  the  Mother  of  God,  Mary  ever 
a  virgin";  the  western  end  "to  St.  Peter,  the  guardian 
of  the  keys  of  heaven,"  and  the  north  portico  to  St.  Bene- 
dict, patron  of  all  monks. 

The  church  set  up  by  St.  Ethelwold,  who  apparently 
presided  over  Thorney  whilst  he  lived,  lasted  for  more 
than  a  century.  At  the  time  of  the  Conquest  the  abbatial 
office  was  held  by  Siward,  a  Dane,  but  about  two  years 
later,  in  1068,  the  Conqueror  appointed  Fulcard,  a  Flem- 
ing. For  some  reason  or  other  Fulcard  was  deposed  in 
a  council  held  at  Gloucester  by  Archbishop  Lanfranc  in 

[295] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

1085.  To  the  abbatial  office  thus  vacant  a  monk  of 
Battle  Abbey  named  Gunther,  was  chosen.  He  set  him- 
self at  once  to  the  task  of  rebuilding  much  of  the  monas- 
tery: in  the  year  of  his  election  he  took  down  the  church, 
and  much  of  the  new  structure  was  apparently  finished 
in  1098.  The  whole  was  completed  in  1108,  four  years 
before  his  death,  although  it  was  another  twenty  years 
before  the  dedication  of  the  church  was  renewed. 

The  series  of  charters  and  other  documents  relating  to 
Thorney  show  what  numerous  benefactors  the  monks  had 
in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  In  the  Dooms- 
day survey  the  value  of  the  abbey  is  placed  at  about  the 
same  as  that  of  Peterborough;  and  William  of  Malmes- 
bury  describes  the  place  in  the  reign  of  Henry  H  as 
wonderful  and  prosperous.  "  The  monastery  of  Thor- 
ney," he  writes,  "  is  in  the  parish  [i.e.,  diocese]  of  the 
Bishop  of  Ely.  It  is  '  an  image  of  Paradise':  the  eyes 
feast  on  the  greenness  of  the  trees,  and  herbs,  and  grass 
and  everywhere  presents  the  same  delightful  prospect. 
Not  the  smallest  part  of  the  soil  remains  uncultivated; 
here  the  land  produces  apple-trees,  here  the  fields  are 
devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  vines,  which  either  creep 
on  the  earth  or  rise  towards  heaven  supported  by  poles. 
Nature  and  cultivation  contend  together,  and  where  the 
one  fails  the  other  succeeds.  .  .  .  What  shall  be  said  of 
the  beauty  of  the  buildings  which  in  a  wonderful  way 
amid  these  marshes  have  found  firm  foundations!  Abso- 
lute solitude  secures  quiet  to  the  monks  so  that  they  may 
more  closely  cling  to  heavenly  concerns." 

[296] 


THORNEY 

The  church,  rebuilt  in  the  sixteen  years  from  1098,  was 
290  feet  long.  The  nave  of  five  bays  erected  by  Abbot 
Gunther  still  exists;  it  has  a  perpendicular  clerestory 
and  a  small  triforium.  The  finest  feature  of  the  building 
at  present  is  the  west  front;  it  has  square  turrets,  with 
later  octagonal  terminations  100  feet  high.  High  up 
over  the  west  window  there  is  a  screen  with  elaborate 
panels,  and  niches  with  nine  images.  The  five  nave 
arches  rest  on  pillars  built  between  1088  and  1125,  and 
as  the  aisles  and  clerestory  were  destroyed  at  the  sup- 
pression, the  space  between  the  piers  is  filled  in  with  later 
work,  and  a  row  of  clerestory  windows  substituted  where 
the  small  triforium  used  to  be.  Willis  states  that  about 
the  year  1636  the  side  aisles  were  taken  down  and  part  of 
the  material  employed  in  filling  in  the  arches  of  the 
nave. 

In  the  time  of  Abbot  William  Ryall,  who  entered  office 
in  1457,  Reginald  Pecock,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  on  being 
deprived  of  his  See,  was  taken  to  Thorney  to  be  kept  in 
confinement.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  sent  to  the 
abbot  the  following  instructions  how  he  should  be  treated: 
**i.  That  he  have  a  secret  closed  chamber  with  a  chimney 
and  a  house  of  easement,  and  that  he  pass  or  go  not  out  of 
the  said  chamber.  2.  That  he  have  but  one  person,  that  is 
serious  and  well  disposed,  to  make  his  bed  and  fire  as  he 
shall  have  occasion,  and  that  no  one  else  speak  to  him 
without  leave,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  abbot,  unless  the 
King  or  Archbishop  send  to  the  abbey  any  man  with  writ- 
ing specially  in  that  behalf.     3.  That  he  shall  have  no 

[297] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

books  to  look  on  or  to  read  in,  but  only  a  Mass  book,  a 
psalter,  a  legend  and  a  Bible.  4.  That  he  have  neither 
pen,  ink  or  paper.  5.  That  he  have  competent  fuel  or 
firing  according  to  his  age.  6.  That  the  first  quarter 
after  his  coming  into  the  abbey  he  be  contented  to  fare  no 
better  than  a  brother  or  monk  doth,  only  of  the  freytour, 
or  to  have  the  same  commons  as  the  monks  have  in  their 
common  hall;  but  afterwards  that  he  be  served  daily  of 
meat  and  drink,  as  one  of  the  friars  or  monks  when  he 
is  excused  from  the  freytour,  and  somewhat  better  after- 
wards, as  his  disposition,  etc.,  shall  require.  For  all 
which,  and  for  fitting  up  this  close  apartment  for  the 
bishop,  the  abbot  is  ordered  to  have  eleven  pounds."  For 
his  maintenance  £40  a  year  was  assigned,  but  he  is  sup- 
posed to  have  lived  only  a  year  or  two  after  his  reclusion 
at  Thorney,  where  he  was  doubtless  buried. 

Robert  Blyth  became  abbot  in  1525.  At  that  time  he 
was  already  Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor  in  Ireland  and 
held  the  abbey  in  commendam.  He  and  his  community 
of  nineteen  monks  surrendered  the  monastery  into  the 
King's  hands  on  December  i,  1539,  and  most  of  the  com- 
munity received  the  usual  pension  of  £6  13s.  4d.  a  year. 
The  abbot  for  his  share  obtained  £200  a  year  and  prob- 
ably also  the  possession  of  the  abbot's  house  at  Whittlesey. 
In  his  will,  dated  October  19,  1547,  he  calls  himself 
*'  Robert  Blythe,  bishop  of  Downe,"  and  appoints  his 
body  to  be  buried  in  the  church  of  Whittlesey,  in  the 
county  of  Cambridge,  before  the  Holy  Sacrament  of  the 
Altar,  and  gives  a  legacy  to  the  parsonage  of  Whittle- 

[298] 


THORNEY 

sey,    belonging    to    the    late    dissolved    monastery    of 
Thorney. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  possessions  of  the  abbey  of 
Thorney,  together  with  the  site  of  the  monastery,  were 
granted,  in  the  third  year  of  King  Edward  VI,  to  John, 
Earl  of  Bedford.  By  that  time,  although  we  have  not 
the  actual  details,  we  may  be  pretty  sure  that  the  main 
part  of  the  monastic  buildings,  including  the  church,  had 
been  wrecked,  as  being  "  superfluous  buildings."  Very 
possibly  the  bells  and  lead  of  Thorney  were  included  in 
the  lots  bought  by  John  Core,  a  speculative  grocer  of 
London.  The  bells  in  this  list  of  purchases  numbered 
fifty-six,  and  were  conveyed  to  London,  where  they  were 
found  to  weigh  4,800  pounds  and  to  be  worth  £432.  To 
collect  these  the  expenses  are  found  recorded  in  the  min- 
ister's accounts.  We  there  learn  the  cost  of  dismantling 
the  bells  and  belfries,  the  expenses  of  labourers  in  casting 
down  and  breaking  up  the  bells,  the  price  paid  for  "  ham- 
mers, iron  wedges,  crowes  of  iron,  lescheselles,"  and  other 
instruments  bought  and  used  at  different  times  for  break- 
ing up  the  bells.  Also  the  cost  of  barrels  bought  at  dif- 
ferent times,  and  tuns  to  put  the  broken  metal  in  to  carry 
it  to  London.  In  one  account  labourers  were  occupied 
and  carts  used  for  seventy-five  days,  and  at  the  end  the 
receiver  stated  that  he  had  got  together  lead  and  bells 
amounting  to  £5,898  17s.  3Jd. 


[299] 


WHITBY 

XT  is  difficult  to  imagine  any  more  impressive 
sight  than  Whitby  Abbey  must  have  presented 
to  ships  passing  along  the  Yorkshire  coast  be- 
fore the  sixteenth-century  vs^reckers  had  dis- 
mantled and  defaced  it.  The  church  was  300  feet  by  69 
feet,  with  transepts  150  feet  across,  and  the  vaulting  was 
60  feet  above  the  floor.  The  central  tower  rose  far  into 
the  air  to  serve  as  a  landmark  by  day,  whilst  by  night  the 
lights  of  St.  Hilda's  tower  shone  far  out  to  sea  "  from 
high  Whitby's  cloister'd  pile  "  to  cheer  and  guide  those 
who  sailed  in  ships,  over  that  long  stretch  of  water  with- 
out a  harbour.  "  It  is  impossible,"  says  a  modern  writer, 
"  to  imagine  anything  more  grand  than  this  noble  minster 
when  complete,  rising  majestically  250  feet  above  the  sea, 
and  approached  across  the  deep  valleys  and  mountain 
wastes  of  the  Vale  of  Pickering.  ...  In  the  midst  of  the 
storm  or  sea-fog  the  chime  of  its  great  bells  cheered  the 
sailors  seeking  refuge  on  that  terrible  coast,  and  in  the 
darkness  of  night  the  pale  gleam  of  its  lights  was  a  beacon 
visible  leagues  away — to  that  seaman's  eye  it  seemed  the 
lustrous  form  of  St.  Hilda  herself  standing  in  one  of  the 
northern  windows  and  guiding  him  with  her  lamp." 

[300] 


WHITBY 

The  story  of  Whitby,  or  as  it  was  then  called  Streanes- 
halch — which  St.  Bede  tells  us  meant  "  Lighthouse  bay  " 
— goes  back  on  the  earliest  days  of  Saxon  Christianity. 
In  655  Oswy,  King  of  Northumbria,  attacked  by  Penda 
of  Mercia  and  Cadwalla,  vowed  to  found  twelve  monas- 
teries if  successful  in  the  fight  that  was  being  forced  upon 
him.  He  was  victorious,  and  keeping  his  word  sent  his 
daughter  to  be  brought  up  in  the  monastery  of  Hartle- 
pool, over  which  Hilda,  the  great-niece  of  Edwin,  pre- 
sided. Two  years  later,  in  657,  Hilda  and  Oswy's 
daughter  Helflad  went  from  Hartlepool  to  establish,  on 
one  of  the  estates  promised  by  the  King,  the  monastery  of 
Streaneshalch.  Here  St.  Hilda  for  a  long  time  ruled  a 
double  community  of  men  and  women,  and  as  she  was 
eminent  for  her  knowledge  and  piety,  people  of  all  ranks 
came  to  seek  her  counsel  and  aid;  many  of  the  monks  of 
this  monastery  became  priests,  and  several  were  raised  to 
the  episcopate. 

We  have  no  detailed  account  of  the  building  raised  by 
St.  Hilda  at  the  first  foundation  of  the  house.  We  may, 
however,  conjecture  that  it  was  large,  since  it  not  only 
contained  the  two  communities,  but  in  664  a  council  to 
determine  the  controversy  concerning  the  celebration  of 
Easter  and  the  shape  of  the  clerical  tonsure  was  held  in 
the  monastery.  Of  the  church  the  only  indication  that 
we  have  is  in  the  old  life  of  St.  Gregory,  where  we  learn 
that  besides  the  High  Altar  there  were  in  the  first  church 
two  other  altars  dedicated  respectively  to  SS.  Peter  and 
Gregory. 

[303] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

Hilda  took  a  considerable  part  in  determining  the  issue 
of  the  Synod  of  Whitby  over  which  Oswy  presided  in 
person.  With  St.  Hilda's  name  was  linked  many  a 
legend  in  the  country  round.  Some  are  recorded  in 
Scott's  lines: 

They  told,  how  in  their  convent  cell 

A  Saxon  princess  once  did  dwell, 

The  lovely  Edelfled. 

And  how,  of  thousand  snakes,  each  one 

Was  changed  into  a  coil  of  stone 

When  holy  Hilda  prayed ; 

Themselves,  within  their  holy  bound, 

Their  stony  folds  are  often  found. 

They  told,  how  sea-fowls'  pinions  fail 

As  over  Whitby's  towers  they  sail 

And,  sinking  down,  with  flutterings  faint, 

They  do  their  homage  to  the  saint. 

Hilda  died,  according  to  the  Saxon  Chronicle,  in  680, 
in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  her  age.  Among  her  monks  at 
Streaneshalch  was  the  first  native  poet  Caedmon,  who 
had  been  a  herdsman.  St.  Bede  tells  us  that  the  highest 
flights  of  poetry  were  so  natural  to  him  that  he  dreamed 
in  verse  and  even  composed  excellent  poems  in  his  sleep, 
which  he  was  afterwards  able  to  repeat  in  his  waking 
hours.  The  account  of  his  death  with  its  simple  faith  in 
the  future  life  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  pieces  in  St. 
iBede's  Ecclesiastical  History. 

Hilda  was  succeeded  as  abbess  by  King  Oswy's  daugh- 
ter Aelfleda,  and  St.  Bede  tells  us  that  the  latter  died  in 
714.     It  was  during  her  rule  that  the  remains  of  her 

[304] 


WHITBY 

father  were  removed  from  the  grave  on  the  field  of  battle 
where  he  had  fallen,  and  were  brought  to  a  tomb  in  the 
abbey  which  he  had  founded.  Here  they  were  buried 
"  with  the  rest  of  the  bodies  of  our  kings,"  as  the  un- 
known monk,  the  author  of  the  Life  of  St.  Gregory,  says, 
an  expression  which  gives  a  precise  indication  of  the 
position  the  church  held  in  Northumbria  in  the  early 
days  of  Christianity. 

Streaneshalch  continued  to  prosper  after  the  death  of 
St.  Hilda  and  her  successor,  Aelfleda,  till  about  the  year 
867.  From  the  year  866  the  Danish  invasions  assume  a 
new  and  more  terrible  character.  Previously  plunder 
had  been  the  object  of  the  frequent  raids  of  the  North- 
men; now  they  dreamt  of  conquest.  On  November  i, 
867,  "  the  army,"  as  it  is  called,  stormed  and  took  York 
and  quickly  spread  over  Deira,  plundering  and  destroy- 
ing. Every  monastery  and  church  in  the  province  was 
left  a  heap  of  smoking  ruins.  Amongst  others  the  abbey 
of  St.  Hilda  perished  utterly.  The  Danes,  under 
Hunguar  and  Hubba,  landed  in  Dunsley  Bay,  two  miles 
to  the  west  of  the  monastery,  and  proceeded  to  plunder 
and  destroy  it.  The  community  were  dispersed,  and 
probably  many  were  slaughtered  in  their  cloister,  whilst 
one  monk  is  said  to  have  anticipated  the  evil  day  by  re- 
moving the  relics  of  St.  Hilda  to  Glastonbury.  For  more 
than  two  centuries  the  site  of  Streaneshalch  remained 
waste  and  desolate,  but  the  memory  of  the  old  religious 
home  was  preserved  in  the  name  given  to  the  few  huts 
which  in  process  of  time  sprung  up  round  about.     It  was 

[305] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

called  by  the  people  Presteby,  which  signified  the  dwell- 
ing-place of  the  priests  or  religious. 

When  next  the  abbey  rises  from  its  ruins  it  Is  under  the 
name  of  Whitby.  William  the  Conqueror  had  already 
made  good  his  hold  over  the  country  when  in  1074  three 
monks  departed  from  Evesham  on  a  mission  to  restore 
some  of  the  wasted  monasteries  of  Northumbria.  The 
story  may  be  seen  in  Simeon  of  Durham's  History,  and 
the  names  he  gives  are  those  of  Aldwin  of  Winchelcombe, 
Alfury  a  deacon,  and  Reinfrid,  who  from  the  profession 
of  arms  had  betaken  himself  to  the  religious  life  in  the 
cloister  at  Evesham.  These  monks  took  with  them  only 
the  necessary  books  and  vestments  for  Mass,  which  were 
carried  on  the  back  of  a  patient  ass.  The  first  of  the  little 
band  of  monks  remained  at  Newcastle,  the  second  estab- 
lished himself  at  Jarrow,  and  Reinfrid  refounded  Whitby 
as  a  monastery  of  Benedictines,  being  helped  by  the 
gifts  of  Hugh,  Earl  of  Chester,  and  of  William  de 
Percy. 

Reinfrid  appears  to  have  lived  till  1084,  and  was  fol- 
lowed in  his  office  of  prior  by  two  of  the  family  of  Percy, 
the  brother  and  the  son  of  one  of  the  founders.  In  the 
reign  of  Henry  I  the  abbey  had  grown  in  numbers  and 
importance,  and  the  King  added  considerably  to  its  pos- 
sessions, and  granted  to  it  the  dues  of  a  port  or  haven 
at  Whitby.  At  this  time  the  number  of  the  community 
would  appear  to  have  been  thirty-six  or  thirty-eight.  At 
some  time  between  11 09- 11 27  the  monastery  was  created 
an  abbey,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  same  century  it  was 

[306] 


<»^ 


WHITBY 

plundered  and  at  least  partially  destroyed  by  some  pirates 
from  Norway  who  had  landed  on  the  coast. 

The  history  of  Whitby  during  the  succeeding  centuries 
was  even  and  uneventful,  with  apparently  little  to  disturb 
the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  Benedictine  mode  of  life. 
It  was  during  this  time  that  there  was  built  up  the  church, 
portions  of  which  now  stand  on  the  cliff,  desolate  and  un- 
cared  for,  and  slowly  crumbling  to  dust.  Every  vestige 
of  the  conventual  buildings  has  vanished,  the  materials 
having  been  utilised  in  a  neighbouring  building.  The 
Early  English  presbytery  of  the  great  church  remains, 
and  shows  that  the  edifice  must  have  been  one  of  the  many 
architectural  glories  of  mediaeval  England.  The  seven 
bays  of  choir  and  sanctuary,  the  exquisite  transepts  of 
three  bays  with  rich  buttresses,  the  two  tiers  of  graceful 
lancet  windows  in  the  front  and  portions  of  the  decorated 
nave  still  stand  and  makes  us  sigh  for  the  rest.  The 
church  was  350  feet  long,  the  tower  150  feet  high,  and 
each  arm  west  and  east  was  150  feet  long. 

In  1527,  on  the  death  of  Abbot  Thomas  York,  John 
Topcliffe  or  Henhem  was  chosen  to  succeed  to  the  abbacy. 
The  times  were  perilous  and  it  was  not  long  before  the 
King's  policy,  with  regard  to  the  religious  houses,  became 
evident.  Abbot  John  from  the  first  was  troubled  by  the 
royal  visitors  and  the  impossible  injunctions  they  left  be- 
hind them.  He  wrote  his  doubts  to  Crumwell  and 
pointed  out  the  difficulty  of  governing  any  religious  house 
under  the  circumstances;  but  with  what  result  does  not 
appear.     In  1537,  under  the  pretext  that  the  risings  in 

[309] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

the  north  must  have  been  much  countenanced  by  the 
monks,  Henry  seized  the  revenues  of  Whitby.  After  un- 
availing protests  the  abbot  is  said  to  have  "  certified  " 
Crumwell  "that  he  w^ould  resign,"  but  he  vigorously 
denied  any  desire  to  desert  his  post.  Layton  and  Legh, 
tvvo  of  the  most  notorious  of  the  royal  visitors,  went  to 
Whitby  to  keep  him  to  his  supposed  word  or  to  "  find  any 
cause  of  deprivation."  They  wrote  thence  to  Crumwell 
to  ask  whether  the  all-powerful  minister  had  anyone  he 
intended  to  appoint,  or  if  not  whether  he  would  leave 
it  to  them  "  to  find  a  man  habill  both  for  the  King's  hon- 
our and  discharge  of  his  conscience  and  for  your  worship 
and  also  profit." 

Crumwell,  however,  did  not  think  well  to  leave  the 
matters  to  Doctors  Layton  and  Legh.  In  October,  1538, 
having  secured  the  resignation,  he  despatched  two  agents, 
upon  whom  he  could  rely,  with  instructions  to  get  the 
community  to  leave  the  choice  of  a  new  superior  to  them, 
when  they  should  be  instructed  whom  they  were  to  nom- 
inate. This  the  monks  refused,  upon  which  the  agents 
tried  to  get  them  to  allow  Crumwell  to  appoint,  but  as 
they  were  still  recalcitrant,  and  as  the  agents  had  with 
them  "  the  conge  d'eslier  and  full  election  from  the  King," 
they  thought  it  best  to  delay  the  election  till  they  could 
hear  further.  On  this  the  prior,  Robert  Woodhouse,  and 
others  went  up  to  interview  the  minister  on  the  subject. 
Immediately  they  had  gone  the  agents  renewed  their 
solicitations  of  the  community,  and  on  October  30,  1538, 
the  monks  gave  way  and  signed  a  paper  in  the  presence 

[310] 


WHITBY 

of  Tristram  Teste  and  his  fellow  commissioners  allowing 
Crumwell  to  appoint.  The  effect  may  be  judged  by  the 
royal  appointment  of  Henry  Davell  on  December  9,  1538, 
by  whom  the  monastery  was  surrendered  to  the  King  on 
December  14,  1540. 

Charlton  concludes  his  account  of  Whitby  thus:  "  after 
being  plundered  of  the  wood,  the  timber  and  the  lead 
upon  its  roof,  and  also  of  its  bells  and  everything  else  be- 
longing thereto  that  could  be  sold,  it  was  left  standing 
with  its  stone  walls,  a  mere  skeleton  of  what  it  had  for- 
merly been,  to  crumble  away  by  degrees  into  dust  or  to 
form  a  heap  of  rubbish  which  might  merely  show  pas- 
sengers in  future  ages  that  there  Whitby  formerly  stood. 
It  is  true  some  part  of  this  lead  was  laid  upon  the  church 
of  St.  Mary,  which  was  still  permitted  to  be  the  parish 
church  of  Whitby,  and  which  seems  till  then  to  have  had 
only  a  thatched  roof;  but  that  lead  was  only  a  small  part 
of  the  whole  and  all  the  remainder  was  carried  away  and 
converted  into  money." 


[3"] 


WOBURN 

^w^OBURN  ABBEY,  a  monastery  of  the  Cister- 
W  I  ^  cian  Order,  had  Its  origin  in  the  piety  of  Hugh 
\B^^  de  Bolbeck  in  1145.  Desiring  to  establish 
some  religious  house,  he  came  to  Fountains  and 
obtained  the  help  of  the  abbot  in  erecting  a  monastery 
at  a  place  called  Woburn,  in  Bedfordshire,  which,  like 
all  Cistercian  foundations,  was  dedicated  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin.  As  the  first  community,  thirteen  of  the  monks 
of  Fountains  were  detached  from  their  own  house  and 
sent  to  colonise  Woburn,  under  Alan,  one  of  those  who 
had  gone  to  Fountains  from  St.  Mary's,  York. 

The  new  foundation  was  at  first  very  poor;  in  fact, 
although  from  the  extant  charters  it  is  apparent  that  it 
did  not  lack  benefactors,  the  endowment  was  so  scanty 
that  after  struggling  for  more  than  eighty  years,  in  1234 
it  was  broken  up  for  a  time  and  the  community  scattered 
in  other  monasteries  of  the  Order,  till  the  debts  that  had 
been  contracted  at  Woburn  could  be  paid.  How  long 
this  dispersal  continued  does  not  appear,  but  it  is  certain 
that  before  the  close  of  the  century  the  name  of  the  com- 
munity stands  in  the  taxation  of  Pope  Nicholas,  and  that 
in  1297  Robert  de  Stoke  was  elected  abbot.     It  never 

[312] 


WOBURN 

became  a  very  rich  house,  however,  and  its  net  revenue 
was  returned  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII  as  slightly  under 
£392. 

Of  its  history  little  is  known  but  the  closing  drama 
which  ended  with  the  execution  of  the  abbot  and  the  con- 
fiscation of  the  abbey  possessions.  The  first  incident 
affords  us  an  insight  into  the  anxieties  and  trials  experi- 
enced by  the  religious  superiors  during  the  few  years 
prior  to  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries.  As  the 
autumn  of  1536  drew  on  to  a  close,  reports  from  all  sides 
must  have  come  into  the  cloisters  of  the  scenes  of  destruc- 
tion and  sacrilege  which  everywhere  were  being  enacted 
in  the  work  of  dissolving  the  smaller  religious  houses, 
of  the  pitiable  state  of  the  ejected  religious,  and  of 
the  rumours,  that  found  ready  credence,  of  projected  sup- 
pression on  a  much  larger  scale.  It  requires  little  stretch 
of  the  imagination  to  picture  the  dismay  with  which  the 
religious  must  have  listened  to  the  current  reports  of 
violence  and  injustice.  But  e.  glimpse  of  the  truth  is 
afforded  in  the  depositions  which  at  the  time  were  made 
against  the  Abbot  of  Woburn. 

When  the  report  of  the  execution  of  the  Carthusians  of 
the  London  Charter  House  reached  the  monastery,  the 
abbot  assembled  his  brethren  in  their  Chapter  House,  and 
having  recited  the  psalm  Deus  venerunt  gentes,  he  spoke 
as  follows:  "Brethren,  this  is  a  perilous  time.  Such  a 
scourge  was  never  heard  since  Christ's  passion.  You 
have  heard  how  good  men  do  suffer  death.  My  brethren, 
this  is  undoubtedly  for  our  ofifence,  for  ye  have  heard  that 

[315] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

so  long  as  the  Children  of  Israel  kept  the  Commandments 
of  God,  so  long  their  enemies  had  no  power  over  them, 
but  God  took  vengeance  of  their  enemies.  But  when 
they  broke  God's  Commandments,  then  they  were  sub- 
dued, and  so  be  we.  Therefore  let  us  be  sorry,  and  un- 
doubtedly he  will  take  vengeance  on  our  enemies,  these 
heretics  who  cause  so  many  good  men  to  sufifer  thus.  Alas! 
it  is  a  piteous  case  that  so  much  Christian  blood  be  shed. 
Therefore,  my  good  brethren,  for  the  love  of  God,  let 
everyone  of  you  devoutly  pray  and  say  this  psalm  Deus 
venerunt,  etc.,  with  the  versicle  Exurgat  Deus,  etc.,  this 
same  psalm  to  be  said  every  Friday,  immediately  after 
the  Litany,  prostrate,  when  ye  lie  before  the  High  Altar 
and  doubt  not  God  will  allay  this  storm." 

But  the  help  Abbot  Hobbes'  simple  faith  in  Providence 
expected  did  not  come  to  him.  He  and  his  monastery 
were  destroyed  in  the  great  catastrophe  which  over- 
whelmed so  many  in  those  days  of  Tudor  despotism.  The 
story  of  Woburn  is  pathetic,  and  perhaps  more  so  than 
that  of  any  other  English  house,  by  reason  of  the  touching 
details  that  have  been  preserved  to  us.  In  it  the  veil, 
which  perhaps  fortunately  shrouds  the  heartbreaking  in- 
cidents of  the  general  dissolution,  is  slightly  lifted,  and 
we  are  afforded  a  glimpse  of  the  fear  and  hope  and 
despair  which  by  turns  filled  the  hearts  of  the  religious 
in  the  time  during  which  the  sword  was  kept  hanging 
over  their  heads.  Paralysed  by  the  masterful  policy  of 
Crumwell,  it  seems  as  if  their  hearts  were  chilled  by  the 
thought  of  the  uncertain  fate  awaiting  them,  whilst  the 

[3'6] 


WOBURN 

very  source  of  the  religious  life  was  being  poisoned  by 
the  injunctions  and  irritating  visitations,  the  object  of 
which  was  to  make  the  cloister  unbearable,  and  drive  the 
monks  to  rebel  or  surrender  their  monasteries. 

Richard  Hobbes  had  been  Abbot  of  Woburn  for  some 
years  when  he  and  his  monks,  at  the  royal  command,  took 
the  Oath  of  the  Royal  supremacy.  It  was  clearly  against 
the  abbot's  better  judgment  and  that  of  some  at  least  of 
the  community,  that  they  had  sworn  as  commanded  and 
had  not  resisted.  Dan  Ralph,  the  sub-prior,  subsequently 
acknowledged  this  and  begged  the  King's  pardon  for  it, 
and  for  the  "  erroneous  estimation  of  Mr.  More  and  the 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  whose  death  he  a  great  while 
thought  meritorious,  wishing  he  had  died  with  them."  In 
fact,  evidently  to  save  the  abbot  if  possible,  Dan  Ralph  de- 
clared that  it  was  he  who,  "  by  counsel  and  menace  "  had 
persuaded  him  to  take  the  required  Oath.  Another  of 
the  community,  Dan  Lawrence,  the  sexton,  declared  that 
vs^hen  he  was  sworn  he  could  not  touch  the  Book  (of  the 
Gospels)  on  account  of  the  numbers,  and  so  considered 
his  conscience  free,  although  he  had  signed  "  the  carte  of 
profession." 

According  to  the  gossip,  even  at  the  beginning  of  1536, 
when  the  bill  for  suppressing  the  lesser  monasteries  had 
passed,  it  was  said  that  Woburn  "  and  other  more  should 
go  down  ere  Twelthtide."  But  in  reality  it  was  not  until 
1538  that  any  steps  were  taken  by  Crumwell  to  bring 
about  the  Dissolution.  The  final  catastrophe  was 
hastened  by  certain  malicious  informations  of  discon- 

[317] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

tented  monks,  who  at  Woburn  as  in  many  monasteries  in 
England  at  this  time,  served  Crumwell  as  spies  and  fur- 
nished him  with  welcome  accusations  of  their  superiors 
and  brethren. 

On  May  12,  1538,  Abbot  Hobbes  and  certain  of  his 
monks  found  themselves  in  the  Tower  of  London,  where 
they  were  subjected  to  a  severe  examination.  One  of  the 
charges  brought  up  against  him,  which  he  did  not  deny, 
was  the  sermon  he  had  made  to  his  community  on  the 
death  of  the  Carthusians  in  London.  Besides  this  when 
the  Act  dissolving  the  monasteries  was  passed  in  1536,  the 
abbot  had  called  his  subjects  to  chapter,  and,  according 
to  the  depositions  of  four  monks,  had  addressed  them 
"  with  suchlike  exhortation  in  the  said  Chapter  House, 
with  lamentable  mournings  for  the  dissolving  of  them, 
enjoined  us  to  sing  Salvator  mundi  salva  nos  omnes  every 
day  after  Lauds.  And  we  murmured  at  it  and  were  not 
contented  to  sing  it  for  such  a  cause,  and  so  we  did  omit  it 
divers  times.  For  this  cause  the  abbot  came  into  the 
chapter  and  did  in  manner  rebuke  us  and  said  we  were 
bound  to  obey  his  commands  by  our  profession.  And  so 
he  did  command  us  to  sing  it  again  with  versicles  Exurgat 
Deus,  etc.,  and  enjoined  us  to  say  at  every  Mass  that  every 
priest  did  sing  a  collect,  Deus  qui  contrttorum,  etc.  And 
he  said,  if  we  did  thus  with  good  and  pure  devotion,  God 
would  handle  the  matter  so  that  it  should  be  to  the  com- 
fort of  all  England,  and  so  show  us  mercy  as  He  showed 
to  the  Children  of  Israel.  And  surely,  brethren,  he  said, 
there  will  come  over  us  a  good  man  who  will  re-edify 

[318] 


THE    ABBOT  S    OAK,    WOBUKN 


WOBURN 

these  monasteries  again  that  are  now  suppressed  quia 
potens  est  Deus  de  lapidibus  tstis  suscifare  filios  Abrahce." 

But  during  the  time  of  waiting  for  the  doom  of  their 
house  there  was  inevitable  excitement,  contention  and 
recrimination  among  the  monks  of  Woburn,  with  cross 
accusations  of  one  party  against  the  other.  In  the  "  shav- 
ing house,"  one  told  another  that  he  belonged  to  the 
"  new  world."  Bitter  words  passed,  and  one  of  those 
there  present  declared  that  "  neither  thou  nor  yet  any  of 
us  shall  do  well  as  long  as  we  forsake  our  head  of  the 
church,  the  Pope";  to  which  his  opponent  replied  calling 
him  "  a  false,  perjured  knave  to  his  prince."  Another 
monk  wrote  to  Crumwell  to  complain  of  his  abbot  that, 
having  spoken  against  the  quality  of  the  bread  supplied 
in  the  monastic  refectory,  he  was  told  "  to  go  further  and 
fare  worse." 

These  and  other  tales  carried  to  the  too  willing  ear  of 
the  King's  minister  brought  the  abbot  under  suspicion. 
He  was  arrested  with  others  of  his  monks  and  lodged  in 
the  Tower,  At  the  end  he  had  tried  to  anticipate  the 
event  by  a  joint  letter  from  himself  and  his  monks  hand- 
ing over  themselves  and  their  monastery  to  Henry's 
mercy.  They  declared  their  full  recognition  of  the 
King  as  Supreme  Head  and  protested  their  innocence  of 
the  charges  brought  against  them.  Their  submission, 
however,  came  too  late ;  the  reply  was  the  seizure  of  the 
abbot  and  others  of  the  monks. 

In  his  examination  Richard  Hobbes,  the  Abbot  of 
Woburn,  practically  allowed  all  that  had  been  advanced 

[321  ] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

against  him.  His  objection  to  the  "  Royal  Headship,"  he 
urges,  was  not  out  of  malice  "but  only  for  a  scrupulous 
conscience  he  then  had  touching  the  continuance  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome,"  and  he  confessed  that  when  the  papal 
Bulls  were  sent  up  to  Doctor  Petre,  he  got  Dan  Robert 
Salford  "  to  write  the  principal  Bulls  in  a  fair  hand,"  and 
the  junior  monks,  not  priests,  to  transcribe  the  others  in  a 
running  hand,  so  that  when  the  quarrel  between  the  King 
and  the  Pope  was  settled  he  might  have  evidence  of  his 
old  privileges  and  exemptions.  "  These  copies,"  he  said, 
"  remained  yet  in  my  chamber  at  my  coming  away." 

He  confessed  also  having  likened  Henry  to  Nebu- 
chadonasor  taking  away  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  temple: 
to  having  spoken  against  the  "  new  learning  "  and  "  in 
all  audiences  from  time  to  time "  that  "  I  have  stood 
stiffly  in  my  opinion  of  the  old  trade  unto  this  present  day, 
maintaining  the  part  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  so  far  as  I 
durst,  thinking  that  it  was  the  true  way,  and  the  contrary 
of  the  King's  part  but  usurpation  desiderated  by  flattery 
and  adulation."  He  fully  admitted,  further,  that  he  had 
wished,  and  had  said  that  he  wished  that  he  had  died  with 
the  Carthusians,  More  and  Fisher.  He  also  confessed 
that  he  now  deplored  the  suppression  of  so  many  monas- 
teries and  that  for  all  these  troubles  he  had  blamed 
the  advice  of  Crumwell  and  the  unfortunate  divorce 
question. 

This  ample  confession,  evidently  made  by  the  advice 
of  Crumwell,  pitifully  reveals  the  mind,  heart  and  soul 
of  Abbot  Hobbes,  in  all  their  many  perplexities.     He 

[322] 


WOBURN 

had  before  him  all  the  horrors  of  prison  and  the  thought 
of  a  terrible  and  ignominious  death.  Under  stress  of  this 
haunting  fear,  before  his  examination  is  over,  in  accents 
more  pitiful  still,  he  admits  that  after  all  he  may  have 
been  mistaken  and  pleads  for  pardon. 

But  such  a  surrender  as  the  abbot  brought  himself  to 
make  in  the  last  resource  w^as  useless.  Henry  had  passed 
the  stage  when  any  sentiment  of  compassion  for  human 
weakness  or  pity  for  any  living  soul  could  find  a  place  in 
his  heart.  The  abbot  was  apparently  tried  at  Lincoln, 
and  in  those  days  of  constructive  verbal  treason  he  was 
pre-condemned  by  his  own  confession.  With  him,  in  the 
same  charge,  were  arraigned  two  of  his  monks,  Lawrence 
Bloxam  and  Richard  Barnes.  All  three  were  found 
guilty  and  ordered  to  be  drawn,  hanged  and  quartered. 

The  sentence  was  carried  into  effect  at  Woburn  itself. 
Tradition  points  to  an  old  tree,  now  called  "  the  abbot's 
oak,"-  in  front  of  the  place  where  the  abbey  buildings 
stood,  as  the  gallows  from  which  Abbot  Hobbes,  his  two 
monks  and  the  vicar  of  Puddington  paid  the  extreme 
penalty  for  expressing  their  opinions  on  these  matters  of 
conscience  and  disapproving  of  the  King's  proceedings. 
The  possessions  of  the  abbey,  producing  a  clear  income 
of  about  £400  a  year,  passed  into  the  royal  hands  by  virtue 
of  the  new  interpretation  of  the  law  of  treason.  On  Sep- 
tember 29  the  royal  receiver  of  attainted  land  acknowl- 
edged the  receipt  of  £266  12s.  from  the  sales  of  the 
Woburn  monastic  goods.  A  few  years  later  the  property 
was  granted  to  Sir  John  Russell,  whose  descendants  still 

[323] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

enjoy  it.  Not  a  vestige  of  the  church  or  of  the  monastery 
building  now  exists.  The  old  pollard-like  oak,  however, 
remains,  and  fastened  against  it  were  some  verses  by 
Wiffle,  the  historian  of  the  house  of  Bedford,  in  which  he 
rejoices  that  the  "  old  memorial  of  the  mitred  monk"  has 
lived  to  flourish  in  a  brighter  day. 


[324] 


WALTHAM    ABBEY 

XN  Essex,  on  level  land  near  to  the  river  Lea,  and 
w^ith  the  rising  ground  of  Epping  Forest  be- 
hind it,  stands  what  is  left  of  the  abbey  of 
Waltham  Holy  Cross.  For  some  centuries  be- 
fore the  suppression  it  was  a  house  of  Canons  Regular  of 
St.  Augustine.  The  members  of  this  Order  followed  a 
rule  founded  on  the  instructions  of  St.  Augustine  and  ap- 
proved at  Rome  in  Councils  held  by  Popes  Nicholas  II 
and  Alexander  II,  which  insisted  on  these  canons  embrac- 
ing an  entire  community  of  life  as  practised  by  all  other 
regulars.  The  adoption  of  this  code  facilitated  the 
formation  of  bodies  of  regular  canons,  not  connected 
either  with  cathedrals  or  with  colleges  of  priests,  and 
during  the  twelfth  century  the  foundations  made  through- 
out Europe  by  the  Augustinian  Canons  Regular  were  very 
numerous.  Here  in  England  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
they  possessed  more  than  170  houses,  two  of  which, 
namely  Waltham  Cross  and  Cirencester,  were  mitred 
abbeys.  These  canons  served  also  one  English  cathedral, 
Carlisle. 

The  first  foundation  at  Waltham,  and  indeed  the  adop- 
tion of  the  name  of  "  Holy  Cross  "  as  the  dedication,  was 

[325] 


WALTHAM   ABBEY 

brought  about,  according  to  legend,  in  a  mysterious 
manner.  In  the  reign  of  King  Canute  a  pious  smith,  so 
runs  the  story,  received  a  supernatural  intimation  that 
he  would  find  a  crucifix  buried  on  the  hill  at  Montacute, 
in  Somerset.  The  parish  priest  was  consulted  and 
thought  that  the  matter  should  be  examined  into  at  once. 
At  the  head  of  a  procession,  praying  and  singing  the 
Litanies,  this  priest  accompanied  the  smith  to  the  spot 
which  had  been  pointed  out  to  him  in  his  dream  and 
which,  when  on  the  ground,  he  fully  recognised.  Here, 
after  much  digging,  the  searchers  came  upon  a  wonderful 
crucifix  carved  in  black  marble.  The  discovery  natu- 
rally made  a  great  impression  at  the  time,  and,  indeed,  the 
fact  suggested  the  war-cry  of  the  English  at  the  battle  of 
Senlac:  "Holy  Cross,  out,  out!"  The  lord  of  the 
manor  of  Montacute  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  was 
named  Tovi,  a  well-knov/n  soldier  who  was  standard- 
bearer  to  King  Canute.  By  his  direction  the  crucifix  was 
placed  on  an  ornamented  car,  to  which  were  harnessed 
twelve  red  oxen  and  twelve  white  cows,  and  the  ultimate 
destination  was  left  to  their  instincts,  guided,  of  course,  by 
Providence.  The  spot  at  which  they  ultimately  stopped, 
and  which  was  thus  pointed  out  by  fate  as  the  place  where 
the  cross  was  to  remain,  was  Waltham,  a  small  and  com- 
mon hunting  box  in  Hertfordshire.  Here  Tovi,  with  the 
King's  help,  established  two  priests  to  act  as  guardians  of 
the  crucifix  thus  so  strangely  found  at  Montacute  and 
providentially  brought  to  Waltham.  From  the  first  this 
cross  was  believed  to  possess  miraculous  powers,  and 

[326] 


WALTHAM    ABBEY 


WALTHAM   ABBEY 

amongst  other  favours  thought  to  have  been  obtained  at 
its  shrine  was  the  cure  of  Harold,  son  of  Earl  Godwin, 
from  the  palsy.  In  recognition  and  gratitude  for  this, 
Godwin  began  the  building  of  a  large  church  and  estab- 
lished twelve  priests  in  charge,  in  place  of  the  two  who 
had  served  the  small  chapel  previously. 

The  church  thus  begun  with  what  the  chronicler  calls 
columnar  sublimes — marvellous  columns — and  arches  con- 
necting them,  was  finished  in  1060  and  was  consecrated  on 
May  3  of  that  year.  It  was  278  feet  in  length ;  and  across 
the  transept  it  was  94  feet.  The  walls  were  all  in  stone, 
and  there  is  said  to  have  been  much  gilding  over  the  altar, 
with  gilt  and  embossed  metal  plates  round  the  capitals. 
At  the  time  of  the  dedication,  Edward  the  Confessor,  who 
was  present,  gave  his  royal  charter  confirming  Harold's 
liberal  donation  of  seventeen  manors  to  the  church  of 
Waltham. 

On  his  way  to  the  decisive  battle  of  Hastings,  in  which 
he  lost  his  life,  Harold  came  to  Waltham  to  pay  a  visit 
to  the  shrine,  and  to  ofTer  up  his  devotions  there  at  the- 
great  cross.  His  body,  after  having  been  buried  first  on: 
the  field  of  battle  under  a  cairn  of  stones,  was  brought: 
back  at  the  request  of  his  mother  and  buried  in  the  church 
he  had  lately  finished  at  Waltham.  According  to  some 
authorities,  the  Conqueror,  although  he  permitted  this 
burial,  seems  to  have  treated  the  place  with  a  certain  hard- 
ness and  unfairness.  Although  the  canons  appear  to  have 
kept  their  lands  intact,  William  is  said  to  have  dispos- 
sessed them  of  most  of  the  movable  wealth  with  which 

[329] 


THE   GREATER  ABBEYS 

Harold  had  enriched  them,  and  to  have  carried  plate, 
jewels  and  other  movable  property  ofif  to  Normandy. 
The  list  given  by  the  scribe  of  these  riches  is  not  uninter- 
esting. There  were,  we  are  told,  seven  shrines  for  relics, 
three  gold  and  four  silver  gilt,  all  ornamented  with  pre- 
cious stones,  four  Gospel  books  bound  in  gold  and  silver 
and  jewelled,  four  great  thuribles  of  gold  and  silver,  six 
candlesticks,  two  of  gold  and  the  rest  of  silver,  three  great 
gold  and  silver  jugs  of  Greek  work,  four  crosses  wrought 
in  gold  and  silver  with  jewels.  There  were  also  "most 
precious  chasubles,  worked  with  gold  and  gems,"  etc. 

The  college  of  secular  canons  established  by  Harold  at 
Waltham  remained  in  existence  for  a  century  after  the 
Conquest.  As  regards  the  buildings,  in  1 125-6  the 
apsidal  choir  was  removed  in  order  to  make  way  for 
another.  Before  the  work  was  completed,  however,  the 
King  had  obtained  permission  from  the  Pope  to  substitute 
Augustinian  canons  for  the  secular  priests  of  Harold's 
foundation.  This  was  done  in  1 177,  and  on  Whitsun  Eve 
the  bishop  of  London  inducted  the  Regular  canons  to  the 
church.  The  religious  came  from  Osney,  Cirencester 
and  St.  Osyth's,  and  the  first  temporary  superior  was  ap- 
pointed in  the  person  of  Ralph,  a  canon  of  Cirencester. 
In  the  same  year,  however,  Walter  de  Gaunt  was  made 
first  abbot  of  the  house,  and  King  Henry  II,  besides  con- 
firming the  charter  of  the  Confessor,  added  to  the  endow- 
ments of  the  Augustinian  abbey.  In  1 182  a  great  meeting 
of  ecclesiastics  and  nobles  was  held  in  Waltham  Abbey 
church  in  furtherance  of  the  Crusades.     Henry  II,  who 

[330] 


WALTHAM   ABBEY 

presided  In  person  as  an  example  to  his  people  to  take 
part  in  this  great  movement  of  Christendom  against  the 
Turks,  promised  to  devote  2,000  marks  of  silver  and  500 
marks  of  gold  to  the  expedition.  At  the  same  time  he 
manifested  his  desire  to  rebuild  the  church  at  Waltham, 
and  the  north  clerestory  may  be  a  portion  of  w^hat  was 
then  projected. 

In  1222  Hugh  de  Nerville,  one  of  the  most  popular 
heroes  of  the  age,  w^as  buried  at  Waltham  Holy  Cross. 
Matthew  Paris  tells  us  that  his  prowess  was  proved  in 
the  Holy  Land  by  his  attacking  and  killing  a  lion  single- 
handed.  The  same  authority  says  that  he  was  laid  to 
rest  "  in  a  noble  sculptured  marble  tomb,"  which  no 
doubt  went  the  way  of  most  monuments  at  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  abbey  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  new  choir  was  finished  in  1242,  and  dedicated  by 
the  Bishop  of  Norwich  in  the  presence  of  many  bishops 
who  had  assembled  for  the  consecration  of  St.  Paul's, 
London,  which  took  place  at  this  time.  Now  also  the 
western  arch  of  the  tower  was  filled  up  with  the  reredos 
of  the  parish  church  which  was  the  nave.  This  nave  is 
mainly  the  work  of  the  eleventh  century  and  remains 
much  as  it  was;  the  present  tower  was  added  in  the  reign 
of  Queen  Mary.  The  channel-cut  pillars  are  said  to  re- 
mind people  of  Durham  Cathedral,  and  both  were  prob- 
ably built  about  the  same  time  in  the  reign  of  Harold. 

Richard  II,  whilst  residing  in  the  place  within  the 
abbey  precincts  called  "  Rome-land,"  received  the  news 
of  the  rising  of  Wat  Tyler's  people.     For  sixteen  weeks 

[331] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

the  body  of  Edward  I,  in  1307,  lay  "beside  the  tomb  of 
Harold  and  was  then  taken  to  his  burial  past  the  beautiful 
cross  which  he  had  raised  in  loving  memory  of  Queen 
Eleanor." 

Besides  the  church  or  rather  the  nave  of  the  church,  the 
mutilated  abbey  gateway  also  still  exists,  and  Harold's 
bridge  still  spans  a  neighbouring  brook.  The  conventual 
buildings  have  long  disappeared  together  with  the  greater 
portion  of  the  church.  Robert  Fuller  was  the  last  abbot, 
having  received  the  charge  on  September  4,  1526.  He 
subsequently  became  prior  of  St.  Bartholomew's,  Smith- 
field,  and  held  the  two  offices  together.  On  March  23, 
1539,  he  surrendered  the  abbey  into  the  King's  hands,  the 
rental  then  being  computed  at  over  £900  a  year.  The 
site,  etc.,  of  the  house  was  almost  immediately  granted  by 
Henry  VHI  to  Sir  Anthony  Denny  for  thirty-one  years, 
and  on  his  death  his  widow  purchased  the  property  from 
the  Crown  for  over  £3,000,  from  whom  the  present  owner. 
Sir  H.  Wade,  is  descended. 

There  is  no  detailed  account  of  the  work  of  dismantling 
Waltham  Abbey  at  the  suppression,  nor  of  the  means 
taken  to  get  rid  of  the  superfluous  buildings.  It  was  in 
the  hands  of  one  whose  name  appears  on  many  of  the 
accounts  and  who  once  signs  himself  "  Francis  Jobson, 
Gentleman."  It  is  probable  that  the  portion  of  the  great 
church  which  we  still  possess  was  saved  from  the  wreck 
by  being  claimed  by  the  people  of  Waltham  as  the  parish 
church  of  the  place.  Francis  Jobson  seems  to  have  cal- 
culated the  value  of  the  lead  upon  the  whole  church, 

[332] 


WALTHAM   ABBEY 

which  he  sets  down  as  being  400  fodders,  and  worth  at 
least  £1,600.  He  counts  the  value  of  twelve  bells  to  be 
broken  up  and  sold  as  bell  metal.  At  this  same  time, 
Michaelmas,  1539,  he  estimates  that  lead  and  bells  from 
the  Essex  religious  houses  to  the  value  of  £3,339  6s.  6d. 
remained  unsold.  The  goods  of  Waltham  Holy  Cross 
which  had  been  disposed  of  had  produced  £202  i6s.  lod. 
and  the  buildings,  etc.,  another  £599  7s.  3Jd.  Besides 
this  1,169  ounces  of  plate,  consisting  of  479  ounces  of  sil- 
ver gilt;  251  of  parcel  gilt  and  439  of  silver  had  been 
sent  to  the  King.  Also  there  had  been  reserved  for  His 
Majesty  "a  cup  called  a  serpentine";  nine  copes,  three 
chasubles  and  three  tunicles.  Two  of  these  copes  were 
of  red  tissue  with  the  images  of  the  Five  Wounds,  etc. 

Sir  Richard  Ryche,  Knight,  the  Chancellor  of  the 
Court  of  Augmentation,  subsequently  granted  to  the  abbot 
of  Waltham  and  his  fellow  canon  pensions  for  having  sur- 
rendered their  abbey  into  the  King's  hands. 


[333] 


WAVERLEY 

DEAR  Farnham,  in  Surrey,  stand  the  few 
remnants  of  the  Abbey  of  Waverley.  The  river 
Wey  flows  by  its  site,  and  a  mile  or  two  away 
to  the  west  the  hills,  which  form  the  well- 
known  "  Hogsback,"  rise  from  the  plain  and  stretch  away 
towards  Guildford  and  Dorking.  Mr.  Francis  Joseph 
Baigent,  in  his  monograph  on  this  monastery,  says  of  it 
that  the  fragments  of  the  buildings  certainly  do  not  en- 
able us  to  realise  that  upon  this  spot  there  once  stood  a 
magnificent  and  grand  church  of  Early  English  style,  ex- 
ceeding in  its  dimensions  several  of  our  cathedrals,  and 
larger  than  the  abbey  church  of  Romsey  or  the  priory 
churches  of  Christ  Church,  Hampshire,  and  St.  Saviour's, 
Southwick.  In  length  the  church  at  Waverley  was  322 
feet,  and  the  transept  measured  165  feet  across.  From 
the  west  end  to  the  transept  crossing  the  measurement  was 
195  feet,  and  the  general  dimensions  of  this  fine  church 
were  almost  identical  with  the  great  minster  at  Fountains, 
which  is  still  sufficiently  intact  to  display  its  noble  propor- 
tions. The  latter  is  said  to  have  been  forty  years  build- 
ing, whilst  the  erection  of  the  former  occupied  seventy- 
five  years. 

[334] 


WAVERLEY 

Waverley  was  the  first  abbey  of  Cistercians  founded 
in  England,  and  for  this  reason  its  abbot  had  pre-eminence 
over  all  the  other  superiors  of  the  Order  in  this  country. 
iWilliam  Giiifard,  the  second  Bishop  of  Winchester  after 
the  Conquest,  brought  over  these  white  monks  from 
Aumone — one  of  their  monasteries  in  Normandy.  They 
had  been  founded  about  thirty  years  before  by  Robert, 
Abbot  of  Molesme,  influenced  by  Stephen  Harding,  an 
Englishman  and  a  professed  monk  of  Sherbourne.  The 
Order  quickly  spread.  "  The  members,"  says  a  modern 
writer,  "  soon  became  noted  for  the  greatest  excellence  in 
the  professions  of  agriculture,  architecture  and  com- 
merce; they  established  granges  or  farms  upon  their  out- 
lying estates,  for  the  more  effectual  utilisation  of  the  pro^ 
ductions  of  the  land;  their  stately  style  of  architecture — 
combining  use  with  elegance  and  avoiding  unnecessary 
display,  as  illustrated  in  the  present  day  by  the  ruins  of 
Furness,  Melrose,  Kirkstall,  Fountains  and  Tintern — has 
been  alike  the  wonder  and  envy  of  architects ;  their  mer- 
chandise of  wool  and  corn  was  noted  for  its  superiority 
over  that  of  less  assiduous  farmers." 

The  foundations  of  the  Abbey  of  the  Blessed  Mary  of 
Waverley  were  laid  by  Bishop  Giffard  on  November  24, 
1 1 28.  Furness,  colonised  from  Savigny,  became  Cister- 
cian about  the  same  time;  and  Tintern,  Rievaulx,  Foun- 
tains and  others  quickly  followed,  until  by  the  end  of  the 
century  about  120  separate  houses  of  the  Order  were 
flourishing  on  English  soil.  According  to  the  old  saying: 
Bernardus  vales  amabat — Bernard  loved  the  valleys — the 

[  337  ] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

Cistercian  houses  were  first  planted  in  solitudes  and  in 
out-of-the-way  and  uncultivated  places.  By  a  rule  of  the 
Order  these  foundations  were  all  placed  under  the  patron- 
age of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  it  was  a  rule  that  no  other 
monastery,  even  of  its  own  Order,  was  to  be  built  within  a 
certain  distance. 

Wavcrley  quickly  gave  evidence  of  life  and  sent  out 
several  colonies  of  sons  to  found  daughter  houses:  Garen- 
don,  in  Leicestershire,  was  the  first,  in  1133,  followed 
three  years  later  by  Ford,  in  Devon ;  after  which  it  estab- 
lished Combe,  in  Warwickshire,  and  Thame,  in  Oxford- 
shire. These  daughter  houses  in  turn  founded  seven  Cis- 
tercian abbeys,  so  that  in  all  eleven  monasteries,  directly 
or  indirectly,  came  out  of  Waverley. 

Bishop  Giflfard,  the  founder,  did  not  long  survive  the 
establishment  of  the  white  monks  at  Waverley,  dying 
within  two  months  of  the  date  assigned  to  the  foundation. 
Bishop  Henry  de  Blois,  who  succeeded  him  in  the  See  of 
Winchester,  was  a  Benedictine  monk  and  brother  of  King 
Stephen,  who  had  been  Abbot  of  Glastonbury.  He 
proved  himself  a  great  benefactor  to  the  infant  com- 
munity, and  gave  the  monks  lands  and  the  right  of  free 
pasturage,  and  his  example  in  this  was  followed  by  others. 

The  story  of  the  house  from  its  first  foundation  in  1 128 
to  its  suppression  in  the  sixteenth  century  does  not  contain 
very  much  of  general  interest.  This  will  always  be  the 
case  in  an  observant  monastery,  as  the  tendency  of  human 
nature  in  all  ages  is  to  note  and  comment  upon  all  irregu- 
larity of  life  rather  than  upon  regularity.     The  vigour 

[338] 


WAVERLEY 

and  popularity  of  the  house,  however,  are  evinced,  not 
alone  by  the  colonies  it  sent  forth,  but  by  the  fact  that  in 
1 1 87  its  community  consisted  of  seventy  choir  monks  and 
126  lay  brethren. 

The  leader  of  the  colony  from  Aumone,  Abbot  John, 
died  at  Midhurst,  in  Sussex,  on  his  way  back  from  the 
General  Chapter  at  Citeaux,  almost  directly  the  founda- 
tions of  Waverley  had  been  laid.  During  the  abbacy 
of  the  second  abbot,  Gilbert,  the  four  foundations  above 
recorded  were  made.  The  story  of  the  troubles  of  one 
body  of  these  colonists  is  instructive.  The  twelve  monks 
arrived  at  their  new  home  with  their  abbot,  Richard,  on 
May  3,  1 136,  and  little  more  than  a  year  later  their 
founder  and  benefactor  died  before  he  had  made  adequate 
provision  for  the  community.  The  spot  chosen  was  at  a 
place  called  Brightley,  in  Devonshire,  not  far  from  Oke- 
hampton,  where  the  connection  of  the  monks  with  the 
place  is  still  recorded  by  the  name  "  Abbey  Ford  Wood." 
The  situation  was  barren  and  deserted,  and  after  the  death 
of  their  friend  the  community  was  destitute  of  help  and 
unable  to  find  even  the  wherewith  to  live  upon.  After 
five  years  of  hard  struggles  the  monks  determined  to 
abandon  their  endeavour,  to  acknowledge  their  failure, 
and  to  return  to  their  mother  house  of  Waverley.  They 
had  already  gone  part  of  their  way  thither  when  a  bene- 
factress unexpectedly  appeared,  gave  them  her  manor 
house  for  a  time,  and  then  built  them  a  monastery  after- 
wards to  be  known  as  Ford  Abbey,  from  the  passage  over 
the  rive  Axe,  which  then  existed  at  this  spot. 

[339] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

The  annals  of  Waverley  in  1201  record  a  terrific  storm 
on  July  8.  The  buildings  of  the  monastery  were  inun- 
dated and  much  damaged,  whilst  the  standing  crops  with 
their  hay  and  flax  were  entirely  destroyed.  This  brought 
upon  them  such  poverty  and  destitution  that  the  monks 
were  for  a  time  obliged  to  disperse  and  seek  refuge  in 
other  houses  of  their  Order.  In  1203,  however,  their  sit- 
uation seems  to  have  improved  somewhat,  since  in  that 
year  William,  rector  of  Broadwater,  in  Sussex,  began  to 
set  the  foundation  of  their  church  for  them.  In  1214  suffi- 
cient progress  had  been  made  to  enable  Aylbin,  Bishop  of 
Ferns,  to  consecrate  five  altars  in  the  church,  to  dedicate 
the  cemetery  and  to  "  bless  and  touch  with  chrism  "  the 
consecration  crosses.  Three  more  altars  were  dedicated  in 
1226,  and  two  again  in  1231,  so  that  in  the  great  monastic 
church  of  Waverley,  as  we  know  from  the  annals,  there 
were  at  least  eleven  altars. 

In  1233  the  annals  chronicle  another  destructive  storm 
on  July  II.  The  cloisters  were  turned  into  rivers,  we  are 
told,  and  the  floods  swept  right  through  the  buildings, 
doing  great  damage.  Bridges  were  carried  away,  stone 
walls  fell  before  the  pressure  of  water,  which  in  many 
places  was  as  much  as  eight  feet  deep. 

On  September  21,  1278,  the  great  church,  being  entirely 
finished  and  out  of  debt,  was  solemnly  dedicated  by 
Nicholas  de  Ely,  Bishop  of  Winchester.  Six  abbots  and 
a  great  number  of  ecclesiastics  and  lay  people  were 
present.  It  was  calculated  that  at  the  banquet  after  the 
ceremony  7,000  people  were  entertained  in  the  monastery, 

[340] 


WAVERLEY 

and  for  the  eight  days  which  followed  all  who  came  were 
refreshed  at  the  cost  of  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  the  con- 
stant friend  and  benefactor  of  the  monks.  Two  years 
later,  on  his  death.  Bishop  de  Ely  was  found  to  have 
selected  Waverley  as  his  burial  place,  and  he  was  the  only 
Bishop  of  Winchester  in  pre-Reformation  times  who 
selected  a  burial  place  out  of  his  own  cathedral. 

The  great  pestilence  of  1349  carried  ofif  several  of  the 
community  and  many  servants  of  Waverley  Abbey. 
Abbot  John,  who  had  been  elected  May  14,  1344,  was 
one  of  the  first  victims  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1349. 
He  was  followed  by  another  abbot  named  John,  who  was 
blessed  by  Bishop  de  Edyndon  in  his  private  chapel  at 
Esher  on  May  24.  This  abbot  ruled  the  monastery  till 
1 36 1,  when  he,  too,  fell  a  victim  to  the  second  outbreak  of 
the  plague. 

We  may  pass  over  two  centuries  of  cloister  life  at  Wav- 
erley and  come  to  the  sixteenth  century.  William 
Alynge,  the  last  abbot,  was  chosen  about  1533,  and  so  at 
once  came  upon  troublesome  times.  In  1535  Henry  VHI 
constituted  Thomas  Crumwell  his  Vicar-General  in  all 
ecclesiastical  matters  and  Visitor-General  of  the  monas- 
teries. Crumwell  forthwith  appointed  certain  men  on 
whom  he  could  rely  to  proceed  to  the  work  of  examining 
the  various  religious  houses  and  colleges.  The  three  most 
notorious  amongst  these  deputies  were  named  London, 
Layton  and  Legh.  In  October,  1535,  as  Layton  found 
that  he  would  not  be  comfortable  were  he  to  stop  at  "  a 
priory  of  minors  and  a  priory  of  canons  which  lay  towards 

[34'] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

Chichester,"  he  pushed  on,  as  he  told  Crumwell,  "  to  an 
abbey  of  Cistercians,  called  Waverley." 

Apparently  the  doctor  did  not  enjoy  his  stay  at  the 
abbey,  as  an  existing  letter  shows.  This  paper  is  also  in- 
teresting as  proving  that  at  this  time,  through  the  tyranny 
of  the  Crown  in  forcing  lay  servants  upon  the  monasteries, 
the  unfortunate  monks  were  no  longer  masters  in  their 
own  houses.  "  I  have  licensed  the  bringer,  the  abbot  of 
Waverley,"  he  writes,  "  to  repair  unto  you  for  liberty  to 
survey  his  husbandry,  whereupon  consisteth  the  wealth 
of  his  monastery.  The  man  is  honest,  but  none  of  the 
children  of  Solomon:  every  monk  within  his  house  is  his 
fellow  and  every  servant  his  master.  Mr.  Treasurer  and 
other  gentlemen  hath  put  servants  unto  him,  whom  the 
poor  [man]  dare  neither  command  nor  displease.  Yes- 
terday, early  in  the  morning,  sitting  in  my  chamber  in 
examination,  I  could  neither  get  bread,  nor  drink,  neither 
fire  of  those  knaves,  till  I  was  fretished  [i.e.,  numb  with 
cold]  ;  and  the  abbot  durst  not  speak  to  them.  I  called 
all  before  me  and  forgot  their  names,  but  took  from  every 
man  the  keys  of  his  office  and  made  new  officers  for  my 
time  here,  perchance  as  stark  knaves  as  the  other.  It 
shall  be  expedient  for  you  to  give  him  a  lesson  and  tell 
the  poor  fool  what  to  do.  Among  his  monks  I  have 
found  corruption  of  the  worst  sort,  because  they  dwell  in 
the  forest  of  all  company." 

This  visit  was  quickly  followed  in  the  early  spring  of 
1536  by  the  Act  of  Parliament  dissolving  all  monas- 
teries below  the  value  of  £200  a  year.    As  the  net  income 

[342] 


WAVERLEY 

of  Waverley  was  according  to  the  Valor  Ecclesiasticus, 
only  £178  8s.  3  id.,  it  must  have  been  at  once  apparent  to 
the  abbot  and  his  community  that  their  doom  was  pro- 
nounced. William,  Abbot  Alyne,  however,  endeavoured 
to  avert  the  impending  suppression  by  sending  to  Crum- 
well  an  earnest  and  touching  appeal.  *'  Pleaseth  your 
mastership,"  he  writes,  "  I  received  your  letters  of  the  7th 
day  of  this  present  month,  and  hath  endeavoured  myself 
to  accomplish  the  contents  of  them,  and  have  sent  your 
mastership  the  true  extent,  value,  and  account  of  our  mon- 
astery. Beseeching  your  good  mastership,  for  the  love 
of  Christ's  passion,  to  help  to  the  preservation  of  this  poor 
monastery  that  we  your  beadsmen  may  remain  in  the  serv- 
ice of  God,  with  the  meanest  living  that  any  poor  man 
may  live  with  in  the  world.  So  to  continue  in  the  service 
of  Almighty  Jesus  and  to  pray  for  the  estate  of  our  prince 
and  your  mastership.  Therefore  instantly  praying  you 
— and  my  poor  brethren  with  weeping  eyes  desire  you  to 
help  them,  in  this  world  no  creatures  in  more  trouble. 
And  so  we  remain  depending  upon  the  comfort  that  shall 
come  to  us  from  you — serving  God  daily  at  Waverley." 

The  appeal  had  no  success;  and  it  is  difficult  to  suppose 
that  by  this  time  the  monks  themselves  were  really  in  any 
doubt  as  to  their  ultimate  fate.  Waverley  was  one  of  the 
first  to  fall,  for  as  early  as  July  20,  1536,  it  was  suppressed 
and  the  inmates  distributed  among  other  houses  of  the 
Order,  for  which  there  was  some  short  respite.  The 
same  day  the  King  granted  the  site  of  the  abbey,  its  build- 
ings, etc.,  to  Sir  William  Fitz-William,  the  treasurer  of 

[343] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

his  household,  who,  as  appears  in  the  letter  from  Layton 
given  above,  had  taken  such  an  interest  in  the  place  that 
he  had  already  quartered  his  servants  upon  the  abbot,  a 
5^ear  before  he  had  got  legal  possession  of  his  expected 
prize.  The  fact  that  Sir  William  Fitz-William  at  once 
obtained  possession  of  the  abbey  "  in  as  full  and  ample  a 
manner  as  William  Alynge,  the  late  abbot,"  possessed  it 
and  that  he  no  doubt  immediately  entered  upon  his  new 
acquisition,  explains  why  on  the  Rolls  of  Ministers'  Ac- 
counts there  are  no  details  of  the  sales  of  the  movable 
goods  or  of  the  wrecking  of  the  church  and  of  the  domestic 
buildings.  Time,  however,  has  not  failed  to  bring  a  dire 
destruction  upon  the  whole,  and  now  only  two  fragments 
of  buildings,  both  Early  English,  remain,  abutting  on  the 
river  Wey,  and  Waverley  is  probably  best  known  to  the 
present  generation  as  that  religious  house  which  gave  to 
Sir  Walter  Scott  a  title  for  his  immortal  series  of 
romances 


[344] 


WESTMINSTER 

^^^^^  HERE  is  but  one  Westminster.  Other  monas- 
M  C|  teries  can  claim  better  positions,  or  longer  his- 
^^^^V  tories  or  perhaps  some  more  wonderful  or 
special  feature  of  architecture,  but  none  can 
recall  historic  memories  like  Westminster.  It  is  a  place 
the  influence  of  which  grows  upon  the  mind  the  more  it 
is  known  and  the  deeper  it  is  studied.  The  inspiring 
height  of  the  nave  and  choir;  the  wonderful  transept 
front;  the  broken  pile  of  chapels  overtopped  by  Henry 
VH's  crowning  work;  the  interior  so  grand,  so  lofty,  so 
graceful;  the  mysterious  apsidal  presbytery  with  its  radi- 
ating chapels;  all  these  features  of  the  buildings  and 
many  more  are  less  impressive  even  than  the  story  which 
attaches  to  the  walls,  and  which  makes  Westminster  the 
most  marvellous  National  Monument  in  the  world. 
Here  most  of  our  kings  were  crowned,  and  here  the  most 
illustrious  of  our  dead  have  found  their  last  resting  places. 
The  history  of  St.  Peter's,  Westminster,  goes  back  into 
the  mists  of  legend.  Some  have  spoken  of  a  church  as 
existing  on  an  island  in  the  marsh  lands  of  Westminster 
in  the  early  days  of  British  Christianity;  others  have  put 
its  foundation  in  the  times  of  Ethelbert  of  Kent  and  the 

[345] 


THE   GREATER  ABBEYS 

first  Saxon  converts,  whilst  William  of  Malmesbury  gives 
the  credit  to  St.  Mellitus  himself.  One  pretty  and  ancient 
story  recounts  the  supernatural  consecration  of  the  church 
on  the  night  before  St.  Mellitus  himself  had  arranged 
to  perform  the  ceremony.  Edric,  the  ferryman,  it  is  said, 
on  that  night  brought  over  the  river  from  Lambeth  a 
strange  priest,  who  proved  to  be  St.  Peter  himself.  Hav- 
ing ordered  the  fisherman  to  remain,  the  stranger  betook 
himself  to  the  humble  church  on  Thorney  island. 
Thence  in  a  brief  time  afterwards  came  the  sound  of 
singing,  the  gleam  of  tapers  and  the  smell  of  incense,  and 
the  boatman  venturing  near,  saw  that  an  innumerable  host 
from  Heaven  accompanied  the  Apostle  in  the  ceremonial, 
whilst  every  thing  and  person  was  illuminated  by  a  super- 
natural light.  The  dedication  having  been  accomplished, 
St.  Peter  returned  to  the  fisherman  and  declaring  who  he 
was,  told  him  to  go  at  daybreak  and  seek  Mellitus  and  tell 
him  that  in  proof  of  what  he  had  done  the  bishop  would 
find  the  marks  of  consecration  crosses  on  the  walls  of  the 
church.  As  a  further  pledge  St.  Peter  bade  the  man  sink 
his  net  in  the  river,  and  carry  to  the  bishop  one  of  the 
fish  he  should  take.  This  he  did,  and  captured  such  a 
netful  of  salmon  that  his  boat  could  hardly  contain  them. 
For  centuries  after,  in  memory  of  this,  the  monks  enjoyed 
a  tithe  of  fish  in  the  river  from  Jenlade  to  Staines,  and 
every  year  a  Thames  salmon,  the  first  of  the  season,  was 
offered  at  the  High  Altar,  and  the  fisherman  who  brought 
it  was  feasted  in  the  hall.  Only  less  wonderful  than  the 
tale  of  the  dedication  was  the  story  that  St.  John  the 

[346] 


WESTMINSTER 

Evangelist,  in  the  pilgrimage  which  legend  assigns  to 
him  until  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord,  once  found 
his  way  to  Westminster  and  trod  the  aisles  of  the  church. 
Hardly  more  certain  than  these  pretty  legends  are  the 
indications  of  the  history  of  Thorney  in  Saxon  times.  The 
restorations  supposed  to  have  been  made  by  Kings  Offa 
and  Edgar  and  even  the  charters  of  St.  Dunstan  would 
appear  to  be  open  to  some  suspicion,  although  there  is 
every  reason  to  think  that  there  was  a  monastic  establish- 
ment already  existing  when  King  Edward  the  Confessor, 
the  real  founder  of  Westminster,  built  the  first  great 
church  on  Thorney  island.  This  great  work  the  pious 
King  undertook  in  place  of  a  vow  of  pilgrimage  to  Rome, 
which  he  had  made  whilst  in  exile.  At  great  cost  the 
building  was  finished  in  a  very  few  years,  and  it  was  alto- 
gether constructed  in  a  style  at  that  time  new  in  England; 
it  was  the  first  Norman  church  ever  erected  in  England. 
One  writer  describes  it  as  a  building  "  supported  by  many 
pillars  and  arches,"  and  Matthew  Paris  speaks  of  it  as 
having  been  built  "  in  a  new  style,"  which,  he  adds„ 
"  served  as  a  pattern  much  followed  in  the  erection  of: 
other  churches."  A  description  written  at  the  time  is  as 
follows:  "The  principal  area  or  nave  of  the  churchi 
stood  on  lofty  arches  of  hewn  stone,  jointed  together  in: 
the  neatest  manner,  the  vault  was  covered  with  a  strong 
double-arched  roof  of  stone  on  both  sides.  The  cross, 
which  embraced  the  choir,  and  by  its  transept  supported  a 
high  tower  in  the  middle,  rose  first  with  a  low  strong 
arch,  and  then  swelled  out  with  several  winging  stair- 

[349] 


THE   GREATER  ABBEYS 

cases  to  the  single  wall,  up  to  the  wooden  roof  which 
was  carefully  covered  with  lead."  Besides  the  tower 
spoken  of  here  St.  Edward's  church  had  two  other  towers 
at  the  western  end  and  an  apse  at  the  eastern  end.  The 
Confessor  also  built  the  cloisters  and  a  round  Chapter 
House,  whilst  the  undercroft  of  his  dormitory  still  exists. 

Having  completed  his  church,  Edward  the  Confessor 
summoned  the  nobility  and  clergy  to  the  dedication.  On 
Christmas  Eve,  1065,  however,  before  the  date  of  the 
ceremony,  he  fell  ill,  and  for  that  reason  anticipated  the 
day  appointed  for  the  solemnity.  He  had  only  time  to 
hold  it,  and  thus  to  witness  the  completion  of  his  work 
when  he  died  on  January  5,  1066,  and  was  buried  in  the 
new  church  the  following  day,  the  feast  of  the  Epiphany. 
Thirty-six  years  after,  under  Gilbert,  the  Norman  abbot, 
the  tomb  was  opened  and  the  body  found  perfectly 
incorrupt. 

The  next  great  event  in  the  history  of  the  church  of 
Westminster  is  the  building  erected  by  Henry  IH.  In 
1 22 1  the  new  work  was  commenced  at  the  Lady  chapel, 
and  the  first  stone  was  laid  that  year  on  Whitsun  Eve  by 
the  King  in  person.  The  chapel  then  e'rected  was  sub- 
sequently taken  down  only  to  make  way  for  that  of  Henry 
VH.  Twenty-five  years  later,  in  1245,  ^he  King,  Henry 
HI,  pulled  down  the  greater  part  of  the  church. 
Matthew  Paris  says  he  ordered  the  east  end,  the  tower 
and  transept  to  be  taken  down  and  rebuilt  in  a  more 
elegant  style  at  his  own  expense.  It  is  difficult  to  say 
what  the  work  cost  from  first  to  last.     In  1254,  nine  years 

[350] 


WESTMINSTER 

after  it  had  been  begun,  we  have  the  barons  of  the  ex- 
chequer ordered  to  apply  to  it  the  annual  sum  of  3,0(X) 
marks,  and  it  is  calculated  that  during  the  twelve  years 
of  the  abbacy  of  Richard  de  Crokesley  the  sum  of  £29,600 
was  spent  in  money  of  that  time. 

The  result  we  may  rejoice  in  to-day.  "  It  has,"  says  a 
writer,  "  all  that  soaring  loftiness,  the  wonderful  charm 
and  beauty  of  art,  ever  fresh  to  the  eye  and  educated  taste, 
which  mark  it  out  from  all  others,  though  they  may  be 
richer  or  vaster  in  dimension."  The  most  marked  fea- 
ture of  the  whole  structure  is  the  French  arrangement  of 
an  apse  and  chapels  radiating  from  the  aisles,  but  in  the 
carrying  out  of  this  design,  Westminster  shows  an  inde- 
pendent English  judgment  working  on  a  foreign  plan. 
The  spaciousness  of  the  triforia  is  said  to  have  been 
*'  specially  designed  to  accommodate  thousands  as  wit- 
nesses of  coronations  and  funerals  of  kings  and  queens  in 
the  chief  national  church." 

Matthew  Paris  gives  a  minute  account  of  the  trans- 
lation to  Westminster  of  a  relic  of  the  Precious  Blood  in 
1247.  This  treasure  had  been  brought  back  from  the 
Holy  Land,  well  authenticated,  as  a  present  to  the  King, 
and  Henry  determined  to  present  it  to  Westminster.  So 
the  day  after  the  feast  of  the  translation  of  the  Confessor, 
the  King  directed  the  London  clergy  to  assemble  at  St. 
Paul's,  where  the  reliquary  had  been  previously  placed, 
and  to  form  there  a  procession  in  copes  and  surplices,  with 
crosses  and  banners,  etc.  He  himself,  in  the  dress  of  a 
poor  man  and  on  foot,  carried  the  reliauary.     The  monks 

[351] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

of  Westminster  with  many  bishops,  abbots  and  others 
came  to  meet  him  as  far  as  Durham  House,  and  then 
joined  in  bringing  the  relic  with  honour  to  the  abbey. 
There  at  the  High  Altar  the  King  made  his  offering  of  it 
to  St.  Edward  and  to  the  monks  of  the  monastery. 

Matthew  Paris,  who  gives  the  account,  notes  an  inci- 
dent as  regards  himself.  He  was  present  at  the  ceremony 
with  three  companion  monks  of  St.  Albans,  and  when 
the  King  had  sat  down,  seeing  the  historian  standing  by 
and  recognising  him,  he  called  him  by  name  and  made 
him  sit  at  his  side  on  the  step  of  the  throne.  He  then 
turned  to  him  and  asked  him  if  he  had  seen  everything 
and  remembered  what  to  write,  and  on  Matthew  replying 
that  he  had  taken  note  of  all  that  had  happened,  the  King 
expressed  his  great  satisfaction,  and  added,  "  I  beg,  and 
in  begging  order  you,  to  write  fully  and  expressly  about 
all  this,  and  to  insert  the  account  in  a  book,"  that  it  may 
always  be  remembered  by  posterity. 

During  the  abbacy  of  Richard  Ware,  in  1268,  the  pave- 
ment in  the  sanctuary  was  laid  down.  Abbot  Ware  had 
been  in  Rome  in  1267,  and  it  is  thought  that  he  probably 
brought  back  with  him  the  material  for  this  work  and 
possibly  also  the  workmen.  To-day  a  sufficient  portion 
of  this  beautiful  inlaid  pavement  remains  to  suggest  its 
former  splendour.  A  second  mosaic  pavement  of  the 
date  of  Edward  I  may  be  seen  in  the  Confessor's  chapel. 
The  altar  reredos  is  fifteenth-century  work  and  has  two 
doors  to  it,  which  lead  to  the  chapel  of  the  shrine,  the  ex- 
quisite base  of  which  was  the  work  of  "  Pietro,  citizen  of 

[352] 


WESTMINSTER    ABBEY :     THE    SOUTH    AMBULATORY 


WESTMINSTER 

Rome."  The  remains  of  the  Confessor  were  translated  to 
this  new  shrine  on  October  13,  1269.  This  event  is  thus 
commemorated,  "  the  13th  day  of  October,  the  King  lette 
translate  with  great  solemnity  the  holy  body  of  Saint 
Edward,  King  and  Confessor,  that  before  laid  in  the  side 
of  the  choir,  into  the  chapel  at  the  back  of  the  High  Altar 
of  Westminster  Abbey,  and  there  laid  it  in  a  rich  shrine." 

In  the  year  1296  King  Edward  I  brought  to  England 
the  regalia  of  Scotland,  with  the  well-known  stone  of 
Scone,  used  at  all  the  coronations  in  that  latter  kingdom. 
This  was  placed  in  the  abbey  church,  and  is  still  preserved 
beneath  the  coronation  chair. 

It  is  impossible,  of  course,  to  detail  the  events  connected 
with  the  abbey  in  any  sequence,  within  the  narrow  limits 
of  a  chapter.  Simon  Langham  became  abbot  in  1349  on 
the  death  of  his  predecessor,  Symon  de  Bircheston,  during 
the  great  plague.  Westminster  was  grievously  visited  by 
this  sickness.  On  March  10,  1349,  in  proroguing  Parlia- 
ment for  the  second  time,  the  King  declared  that  it  was 
worse  than  ever.  Some  weeks  later  the  monastery  was  at- 
tacked; early  in  May  Abbot  Bircheston  died  at  Hamp- 
stead,  and  almost  at  the  same  time  twenty-seven  of  the 
monks  were  committed  to  a  common  grave  in  the  south 
cloister.  To  relieve  the  urgent  needs  of  the  house  and 
those  round  about  it  £315  13s.  8d.  worth  of  plate  and 
ornaments  were  sold.  Simon  Langham  had  only  become 
a  monk  in  1335,  but  he  early  manifested  his  powers,  and 
had  already  succeeded  the  prior,  carried  of]f  by  sickness, 
in  April,  1349,  when  in  May  on  the  death  of  the  abbot 

[355] 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

he  was  chosen  in  his  place.  He  quickly  rose  to  the  high- 
est position  in  church  and  state,  in  1368  being  created 
Cardinal.  His  body  rests  at  Westminster  in  the  chapel 
of  St.  Benedict,  beneath  a  tomb  of  alabaster.  The  his- 
torian of  Westminster  says  that  from  first  to  last  Cardinal 
Langham's  benefactions  to  his  monastery  amounted  to  the 
sum  of  £10,800. 

Nicholas  Litlington,  who  became  abbot  in  1362,  added 
to  the  buildings  by  his  provident  care.  The  great  hall  of 
the  abbey  was  his  work,  the  Jerusalem  chamber  and  what 
is  now  the  dormitory  of  the  boys,  also  two  sides  of  the 
cloister,  the  south  and  west  walks,  as  we  have  them  now. 
Beyond  his  additions  to  the  buildings.  Abbot  Litlington 
gave  much  to  the  sacristy  in  the  way  of  plate  and  precious 
vestments. 

At  Westminster  there  was  a  celebrated  and  frequently 
used  sanctuary.  On  the  return  of  Henry  VI  to  the  throne 
in  1740,  for  instance,  Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Edward  IV, 
took  sanctuary,  and  whilst  still  here  a  prince  was  born 
"  and  christened  in  the  abbey,"  whose  godfathers  were 
the  abbot  and  prior  of  the  said  place.  The  prince  in  time 
became  King  Edward  V,  when  the  abbot,  Thomas 
Millyng,  his  godfather,  was  promoted  to  the  See  of  Here- 
ford. In  1483  John  Estney,  Millyng's  successor,  again 
received  the  Queen  of  Edward  IV  into  sanctuary,  whither 
she  had  fled  with  five  princesses  on  the  arrest  of  Earl 
Rivers.  The  news  was  taken  to  Archbishop  Rotherham 
the  Chancellor,  who  was  then  at  York  Place,  near  West- 
minster.    "  Whereupon,"  says  the  historian,  "  the  Bishop 

[356] 


WESTMINSTER 

called  up  his  servants  before  daylight  .  .  .  and  came  be- 
fore day  to  the  Queen,  about  whom  he  found  much  heavi- 
ness, rumble,  haste,  business,  conveyance  and  carriage  of 
her  stufif  into  sanctuary.  Every  man  was  busy  to  carry, 
bear  and  convey  stuff,  chests  and  ferdelles;  no  man  was 
unoccupied  and  some  carried  more  than  they  were  com- 
manded to  another  place.  The  Queen  sat  alone  below  on 
the  rushes  all  desolate  and  dismayed.  .  .  .  And  when  he 
opened  his  windows  and  looked  on  the  Thames,  he  might 
see  the  river  full  of  boats  of  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  his 
servants  watching  that  no  person  should  go  to  sanctuary 
nor  none  should  pass  unsearched." 

It  was  just  before  this  time  that  under  the  patronage  of 
of  Abbot  Estney,  Caxton  began  to  exercise  here  the  art  of 
printing,  and  set  up  the  first  printing  press  in  England 
within  the  precincts  of  Westminster  Abbey.  In  the  year 
1500  John  Islip  was  unanimously  elected  abbot.  At  that 
period  it  seemed  almost  certain  that  Henry  VI  would 
have  been  canonised  and  the  abbot  and  community  peti- 
tioned the  King  to  remove  the  body  from  Windsor  where 
it  was  buried.  It  is  said  that  the  monks  did  remove  it  at 
a  cost  of  £500,  and  on  January  24,  the  following  year, 
1502,  Abbot  Islip,  assisted  by  several  of  the  King's  min- 
isters, laid  the  foundation  of  the  new  Lady  chapel,  which 
was  to  be  built  by  King  Henry  VII  as  a  shrine  for  the  re- 
mains of  his  saintly  predecessor.  The  Lady  chapel  built 
by  Henry  III  and  a  tavern  called  "The  White  Rose" 
were  pulled  down  to  make  way  for  it.  When  the  chapel 
was  finished,  the  charges  are  said  to  have  amounted  to 

[359] 


THE   GREATER  ABBEYS 

some  £14,000  of  money  in  those  days.  Estates  had  been 
given  by  the  King  to  support  the  expenses,  and  to  help 
the  endowment  Henry  VH  procured  from  the  Pope  per- 
mission to  suppress  two  religious  houses,  Mottisford  in 
Hampshire  and  Suffield  in  Buckinghamshire,  and  to  de- 
vote their  revenues  to  his  foundation.  In  15 18  Cardinals 
Wolsey  and  Compeggio,  with  joint  legislative  powers, 
visited  Westminster,  and  Polydore  Vergil  particularly 
noted  the  strictness  of  the  life  led  there  by  the  monks. 

In  1536  the  monks  were  invited  to  exchange  certain 
manors  belonging  to  Westminster  for  the  lands  of  the 
priory  of  Hurley  in  Berkshire.  At  this  time  the  dis- 
solved Convent  garden,  now  known  as  Covent  Garden, 
appear  to  have  passed  from  the  abbey  to  the  Crown. 
Three  years  later,  on  January  16,  1540,  the  abbey  was  sur- 
rendered to  the  Crown  by  the  abbot  and  twenty-four 
monks,  and,  as  an  abbey,  ceased  to  exist.  As  it  formed 
part  of  the  King's  declared  project  to  create  a  bishopric 
out  of  the  abbey,  the  buildings  were  not  considered,  as 
in  other  cases,  "  unnecessary,"  and  so  "  defaced."  West- 
minster was  thus  saved,  although  despoiled  of  its  most 
precious  treasures.  In  the  list  of  plate  two  or  three  items 
that  were  reserved  to  the  King's  use  would  be  particularly 
valuable  could  we  but  have  them  to-day;  "  a  cup  called 
'the  maser  belle  or  St.  Edward's  maser';  a  cross  of 
beryl "  and  "  a  dish  or  basin  of  precious  stones  called 
agate,  ornamented  with  gold,  precious  stones  and  pearls." 
Of  altar  furniture  carried  ofif  there  is  specially  noted: 
**Two  altar  hangings,  called  frontals,  of  cloth  of  gold 

[360] 


WESTMINSTER 

worked  with  lions,  fleur-de-lys  and  the  arms  of  the  late 
Abbot  Islip."  "  Five  copes  of  needlework  (one  called 
St.  Peter's  cope,  one  cope  with  angels  of  pearl,  and  three 
others  called  Jesses)  with  two  tunicles;  one  chasuble  with 
seven  silver  gilt  buttons,  together  with  albs,  stoles  and 
mantles  of  the  same  work."  Sixteen  copes  of  cloth  of 
gold  of  various  colours;  one  of  blue  with  a  chasuble,  etc. 
These  were  carried  away  "  for  the  King's  use,"  but  what 
became  of  them  *'  history  relateth  not' 

I  might  here  close  this  account  of  Westminster  Abbey, 
as  the  "  new  foundation  "  has  obviously  no  part  with  the 
old,  and  the  very  name  "  abbey"  is  now  merely  a  memo- 
rial of  the  past  and  a  record  of  the  "  passing  of  the  monk." 
But  a  word  may  be  usefully  said  of  the  brief  return  of  the 
Benedictine  monks  to  their  old  quarters  during  the  reign 
of  Queen  Mary.  Dr.  Feckenham,  at  the  time  dean  of 
St.  Paul's,  had  been  a  monk  at  Evesham  before  the  sup- 
pression of  that  monastery,  and  on  the  proposal  to  re- 
establish the  monks  at  Westminster,  he  resigned  his  dean- 
ery at  St.  Paul's  and  becoming  abbot  of  Westminster 
began  the  old  routine  of  monastic  observance.  On  the 
accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth  the  abbey  was  again  speed- 
ily suppressed. 


[361] 


WELBECK 

CHE  abbey  of  Premonstratenslan  canons  of 
Welbeck  was  first  established  in  the  parish  of 
Cuckney,  six  miles  from  Welbeck  in  the  county 
of  Nottingham,  by  a  colony  from  Newhouse 
in  1 153.  The  founders  were  originally  Richard  le 
Flemyng  and  Thomas  de  Cuckney,  but  in  1329  John 
Hothum,  Bishop  of  Ely,  bought  the  manor  from  the  heirs 
of  de  Flemyng  and  other  lands  and  advowsons.  The 
manor  and  the  lands  he  settled  upon  the  canons,  and  he 
thus  became  acknowledged  as  the  second  founder  of  Wel- 
beck Abbey,  which  was  placed  under  the  patronage  of  St. 
James  the  Apostle,  the  saint  to  whom  the  old  church  of 
the  place  had  been  dedicated.  In  process  of  time  Wel- 
beck Abbey  became  possessed  of  ten  parochial  churches 
and  two  chapelries.  Five  of  the  parishes  were  served  by 
the  canons  themselves  as  perpetual  vicars.  Welbeck 
Abbey  claimed  to  have  established  nine  other  Premon- 
stratensian  houses,  but  in  regard  to  two  of  these,  namely 
Hales  Owen  and  Titchfield,  this  pretension  could  not  be 
sustained.  Its  position  and  influence  were,  perhaps, 
higher  than  those  of  other  establishments  of  the  Order  in 
England,  and  before  the  sixteenth  century  it  became, 

[362] 


WELBECK 

tactily  at  least,  acknowledged  as  the  chief  English  house. 
The  gift  of  the  Bishop  of  Ely  in  1329  entailed  many 
obligations  upon  the  community.  They  undertook,  in 
the  first  place,  to  find  eight  canons  who  should  offer  up 
prayers  for  King  Edward  III  and  his  grandfather,  and 
for  many  specified  benefactors.  They  promised  to  pray 
for  the  bishop  during  life,  and  to  celebrate  forever  his 
anniversary  when  dead  in  the  most  solemn  way  possible, 
and  by  giving  doles  to  the  poor.  Whenever  any  of  the 
eight  appointed  canons  should  be  unable  to  say  Mass, 
others  were  to  be  named  to  the  duty. 

The  abbot  and  his  canons  further  promised  that  they 
would  themselves  never  do  anything  to  try  and  get  rid  of 
this  obligation  or  to  lighten  it.  Every  new  abbot,  before 
the  community  made  their  obedience  to  him  at  his  instal- 
lation to  office,  was  to  swear  solemnly  to  keep  this  promise, 
and  so  was  every  novice  before  being  admitted  to  the  habit 
of  the  house.  In  order  that  the  provisions  of  the  agree- 
ment might  never  be  forgotten,  the  deed  made  between 
the  Bishop  of  Ely  and  the  Abbot  of  Welbeck  was  to  be 
publicly  read  in  Chapter  before  the  brethren  each  year 
on  the  day  of  All  Souls. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  history  of  Welbeck  during  the 
400  years  of  its  existence  is  mainly  derived  from  the  visita- 
tions and  other  documents  preserved  by  Bishop  Red- 
man, the  representative  of  the  Abbot  of  Premontre  in  Eng- 
land, for  the  last  part  of  the  fifteenth  century.  A  few 
earlier  papers  are  to  be  found  in  the  same  Registers,  and 
from  one  of  them  an  interesting  insight  into  the  procedure 

[365] 


THE   GREATER  ABBEYS 

at  an  election  at  Welbeck  may  be  obtained.  John  de 
Norton,  the  late  abbot,  had  died,  and  at  once  the  canons 
acquainted  the  abbot  of  the  mother  house,  Robert,  Abbot 
of  Newhouse,  so  that  he  might  come  to  Welbeck  and  hold 
the  election  of  a  successor.  April  13,  1450,  was  ap- 
pointed for  that  purpose,  and  at  this  time  John,  Abbot  of 
Dale,  was  also  in  the  house.  After  the  High  Mass  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  had  been  sung,  all  the  canons  assembled  in 
the  Chapter  House,  where,  after  prayer  and  considera- 
tion, the  community  begged  the  two  abbots  to  make  choice 
of  a  fitting  superior  for  them. 

After  some  hesitation  these  two  prelates  consented  to 
this  course,  and  at  the  end  of  a  good  deal  of  consultation 
with  the  fathers  of  the  abbey,  they  chose  one  of  the  Wel- 
beck canons,  named  John  Green,  to  fill  the  vacant  office. 
Upon  this,  the  fact  of  the  election  was  published  in  the 
Chapter,  and,  the  unwilling  consent  of  the  elect  having 
been  obtained,  the  Abbot  of  Newhouse,  as  "  the  father 
abbot,"  confirmed  the  act  on  behalf  of  the  Order.  All 
the  community  then  proceeded  to  the  church,  singing  the 
Te  Deum,  where  they  installed  the  newly-elected  abbot 
and  put  him  into  possession  of  the  church  by  placing  the 
bell-cords  and  the  keys  of  the  doors  in  his  hands.  Then 
one  by  one  the  canons  came,  and,  kneeling,  renewed  their 
obedience.  The  obedientiaries  also,  as  a  sign  of  obedi- 
ence and  subjection,  laid  their  various  keys  at  the  feet 
of  the  new  superior.  On  the  part  of  the  elect,  before 
the  community  had  done  their  obedience,  the  official 
document  of  the  election  declares  that  John  Green,  the 

[366] 


WELBECK 

elect,  took  an  oath  to  carry  out  the  agreement  between 
Welbeck  and  Bishop  John  Hothum. 

On  May  6,  1462,  Bishop  Richard  Redman  made  his 
first  official  visitation  to  Welbeck.  He  found  this  same 
John  Green  still  abbot,  but  very  old  and  infirm.  The 
house  was  in  a  most  excellent  state,  and  all  that  the  visitor 
could  find  to  blame  was  a  laxity  in  regard  to  the  rule  of 
silence.  "  Otherwise,"  he  says,  "  the  members  of  this 
community  are  united  to  their  superior  in  all  charity, 
brotherly  love,  and  peace  and  manifest  themselves  as  true 
sons  of  obedience."  The  choir  duties  are  carried  out 
exactly  (ad  unguem),  and  the  old  abbot  is  the  first  to  bear 
all  the  burdens. 

The  next  recorded  visit  was  made  in  1478:  William 
Burton  was  then  abbot,  and  the  community  consisted  of 
eighteen  canons  and  two  novices.  Bishop  Redman 
thought  that  the  abbot  was  trying  to  govern  too  much 
according  to  his  own  will  and  without  officials,  and  by 
an  exercise  of  his  visitorial  powers  the  bishop  filled  up 
the  vacant  offices  and  warned  Br.  John  Warburton,  whom 
he  appointed  circator,  that  it  was  his  duty  to  see  that  the 
cloister  doors  were  fastened  at  night  and  at  the  proper 
times  of  the  day.  He  pointed  out  to  the  abbot  that  there 
were  many  repairs  that  should  be  seen  to  at  once  if  the 
house  was  not  to  be  allowed  to  fall  into  ruin.  The  canons 
were  to  rise  for  the  night  office  and  were  not  to  shirk  this 
duty,  and,  as  a  report  had  reached  him  that  some  of  the 
community  had  gone  hunting  and  shooting  arrows,  the 
visitor  commanded  that  this  should  not  be  allowed  to  any. 

[367] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

There  are  indications  here  that  the  rule  of  the  abbot 
was  not  what  it  should  be.  It  was  at  best  a  great  contrast 
to  that  of  Abbot  John  Green,  and  four  years  later,  when 
Bishop  Redman  came  again  he  had  to  take  drastic 
measures  to  save  Welbeck  from  ruin.  He  found  that 
Abbot  Burton  had  dissipated  the  goods  of  the  house; 
buildings  were  in  ruin  for  want  of  repair,  and  lands, 
woods  and  tithes  belonging  to  the  community  had  been 
pledged  without  the  consent  of  the  brethren.  More  than 
this,  nearly  all  the  plate  of  the  monastery  had  been  pawned 
or  got  rid  of  in  some  way  or  other,  so  that  only  one 
silver  cup  could  be  produced  to  the  visitor.  As  for  the 
abbey  buildings,  they  stood  in  urgent  need  of  repair,  as 
nothing  had  been  done  to  them  during  this  administra- 
tion. The  woods  had  been  cut  down  without  considera- 
tion to  make  money;  the  abbot  also  had  sold  all  the  oxen 
and  cattle  and  sheep  of  the  abbey,  and  the  stores  were  so 
empty  that  it  was  frequently  hard  to  find  necessary  sup- 
plies of  oil,  wax  and  wine.  Welbeck  was  indeed  in  a 
state  of  desolation  by  the  misrule  of  the  superior.  But 
there  was  worse ;  Abbot  Burton  was  defamed  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood for  his  bad  life,  and  the  visitor,  after  thorough 
inquiry,  found  that  the  report  was  well  founded  and 
proven.  He  at  once  removed  him  from  his  office  and 
sent  him  to  do  penance  at  Barlings  Abbey  for  the  rest  of 
his  life. 

For  the  next  eight  or  ten  years  the  abbey  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  able  to  recover  from  this  period  of 
misrule.     Though  wrong  doers  are  always  punished,  and 

[368] 


WELBECK 

punished  severely,  the  laxity  appears  at  the  periodic  visits 
in  several  minor  matters;  games  for  money  were  at  one 
time  becoming  common  and  of  course,  prohibited;  too 
many  of  the  community  were  going  to  the  "  meat  room  " 
and  shirking  the  regular  fasts;  the  same  was  seen  in  regard 
to  a  catching  slackness  in  rising  for  midnight  matins.  In 
1494,  however.  Bishop  Redman  is  pleased  to  declare  that 
he  found  everything  again  in  an  excellent  state,  and  that 
he  could  see  nothing  to  blame  or  to  correct.  The  list  of 
the  community  at  this  time  shows  more  vigour  than  on 
previous  visitations,  as  there  are  no  less  than  five  novices, 
all  of  whom  are  found  subsequently  to  have  persevered  in 
the  regular  life.  Three  years  later,  September  3,  1497, 
Welbeck  has  the  same  excellent  report,  and  in  1500,  the 
last  visitation  of  which  we  have  any  record,  beyond  the 
necessity  of  some  minor  corrections,  Bishop  Redman  is 
able  to  give  the  same  good  account  of  the  abbey. 

One  of  the  last  abbots  of  Welbeck  was  John  Maney, 
bishop  of  Elphin,  who  became  commendatory  of  Welbeck 
in  1520.  At  the  Dissolution  the  abbey  was  ruled  by  one 
Richard  the  Abbot,  and  he  with  seventeen  canons  signed 
the  deed  of  surrender  on  the  June  20,  1538.  At  that  time 
the  net  value  of  the  abbey  was  stated  to  be  £249  6s.  3d. 
The  site  was  granted  in  the  same  year  to  Richard 
Whalley.  The  goods  of  the  abbey  at  the  general  wreck 
sold  for  £192  17s.  4d.,  which  must  have  been  a  very  small 
amount  of  their  value. 


[369] 


WHALLEY 

^^^^^HE  Abbey  of  Whalley  in  Lancashire  was  first 
M  ^1  founded  in  1172  for  the  Cistercians  by  John 
^^^^^  Constable  of  Chester  and  Baron  of  Halton,  at 
Stanlaw,  in  Cheshire.  It  was  dedicated  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the 
Order,  and  the  name  given  it  in  the  charter  of  foundation 
was  Benedictus  locus,  "  the  blessed  spot."  The  situation 
of  the  monastery  was  near  the  Cheshire  shores  of  the  Mer- 
sey, and  this  site  was  soon  found  to  be  low  and  unhealth- 
ful;  at  spring  tides  the  monastery  became  inaccessible,  the 
w^aters  were  constantly  encroaching  upon  the  adjoining 
lands  and  at  times  they  even  invaded  the  monastic  offices 
to  the  depth  of  three  feet.  In  consideration  of  these  in- 
conveniences, Pope  Nicholas  IV  gave  permission  for  the 
monks  to  transfer  their  monastery  to  Whalley  in  Lan- 
cashire, where  a  place  had  been  provided  for  them  by 
Henry  Lacy,  Earl  of  Lincoln.  The  establishment,  there- 
fore, of  Whalley  Abbey  dates  from  1296. 

The  building  of  the  church  was  commenced  at  once, 
and  it  was  dedicated  in  April,  1306.  Whitaker  has  given 
a  few  particulars  of  the  structure :  The  stone  with  which 
the  buildings  were  constructed  came  from  the  quarries  of 

[370] 


'^  *. 


WHALLEV    abbey:     THE    ABBOTS    HOUSE 


WHALLEY 

Read  and  Symondstone.  The  church  was  255  feet  long, 
divided  into  a  nave  of  ten  bays  and  a  choir  and  pres- 
bytery of  two;  the  transepts,  142  feet  across,  had  three 
chapels  in  each  wing.  The  refectory  and  kitchen  appear 
to  have  been  completed  between  1362  and  1425,  and  the 
last  portion  of  the  original  plan  is  said  to  have  been  taken 
in  hand  in  1438. 

Very  little  now  remains  of  the  buildings,  a  portion  only 
of  the  south  aisle  wall  and  the  south  and  west  walls  of  the 
transept  is  still  standing.  On  the  outside  of  the  south 
wall,  where  the  cloister  used  to  be,  is  a  recess,  which  is 
supposed  to  have  been  intended  for  the  aumbry,  to  hold 
the  books  used  by  the  monks  when  reading  in  the  cloister. 
The  entrance  to  the  Chapter  House  and  the  door  of  the 
refectory  are  also  preserved.  The  infirmary  lies  back  in 
its  own  quardrangle  of  42  feet,  and  it  contained  a  refec- 
tory with  dormitory  for  the  sick  over  it  and  a  chapel  over 
an  undercroft.  The  approach  to  the  abbey  was  by  twON 
gateways  still  remaining.  The  entire  establishment  com- 
prised three  quadrangles  and  outlying  offices:  the  first 
and  most  westerly  was  the  great  cloister  with  the  church, 
forming  the  north  side,  the  Chapter  House  and  vestry 
the  east,  the  dormitory  the  west,  and  the  refectory  and 
kitchen  the  south. 

The  foundation  of  Whalley  was  opposed  by  the  abbot 
of  the  neighbouring  Cistercian  abbey  of  Sawley.  The 
community  of  the  latter  monastery  considered  that  the 
new  establishment  was  too  near  to  it,  and  that  it  was 
against  the  constitution  of  the  Cistercian  Order  for  two 

[  373  ] 


THE   GREATER  ABBEYS 

houses  to  be  built  so  close  together.  Further,  the  fact 
that  both  monasteries  had  to  purchase  provisions,  etc., 
within  the  one  district  of  Craven  had  already  raised 
prices;  the  Sawley  monks  vv^ere  consequently  compelled  to 
go  further  afield,  and  to  be  obliged  to  travel  forty  or  fifty 
leagues  always  over  bad  roads  was  in  reality  a  great  in- 
jury. Also,  they  complained  that,  since  the  Whalley 
monks  had  been  building,  the  monks  at  Sawley  had  found 
that  the  timber  they  needed  cost  them  thirty  shillings  a 
year  more  than  before,  and  the  same  was  true  in  regard 
to  fish,  fowl,  eggs,  etc.,  for  the  refectory;  fish,  moreover, 
came  to  Sawley  less  frequently,  and  when  the  merchants 
did  bring  it,  it  was  dearer  than  it  ever  was  before.  This 
complaint  of  Sawley  was  carried  before  the  General 
Chapter  of  the  Order,  and  was  finally  settled  by  a  com- 
mission of  Cistercian  abbots  in  1305.  The  two  convents 
agreed  to  assist  each  other  in  all  business  matters,  as  if 
their  interests  were  common,  and  by  this  means  the  near- 
ness of  one  house  to  the  other  would  not  materially  affect 
the  prosperity  of  either. 

The  three  centuries  of  history  in  this  monastery  do 
not  present  any  incident  of  special  interest.  The  last 
abbot,  John  Paslew,  was  chosen  in  1506,  and  ruled  the 
abbey  for  thirty  years,  and  indeed  until  the  seizure  of  the 
abbey  by  the  King  in  1537  at  the  attainder  of  its  abbot  on 
a  charge  of  high  treason.  The  story  of  this  seizure  of  the 
monastery  illustrates  one  of  the  ways  by  which  the  crown 
became  possessed  of  monastic  property  in  the  sixteenth 
century. 

[374] 


WHALLEY 

The  rising  of  the  people  against  the  royal  proceedings, 
and  in  particular  against  the  dissolution  of  the  smaller 
monasteries  in  Lincolnshire  and  the  north,  took  place  in 
1536.  During  the  later  movement,  known  as  the  "  Pil- 
grimage of  Grace,"  the  insurgents  had  certainly  operated 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Whalley.  Indeed,  Sawley 
Abbey,  which  was  only  a  short  distance  away  as  we  have 
seen,  had  been  suppressed  under  the  act  of  1536  for  dis- 
solving the  lesser  monasteries.  It  was  reopened  by  the 
people,  and  the  monks  who  had  been  sent  to  Furness  by 
the  royal  officials  had  been  brought  back  in  triumph,  and 
at  once  began  again  their  corporate  life.  News  had 
come  that  the  Earl  of  Derby  was  on  his  way,  with  a  con- 
siderable force,  to  expel  the  reinstated  monks,  and  the 
whole  district  was  in  a  ferment  to  resist  to  the  last,  when 
Robert  Aske,  the  leader,  recognised  that  this  would  be 
impossible.  He  consequently  persuaded  the  people 
"  who  had  already  attainted  Whalley  Abbey,"  to  "  with- 
draw them  to  the  mountains "  again. 

Beyond  this  mention  of  Whalley  as  a  kind  of  ren- 
dezvous for  the  insurgents,  there  is  very  little,  indeed,  to 
connect  either  the  monastery  or  its  abbot  with  the  rising. 
It  is  true  that  one  witness  at  the  subsequent  trial  declared 
that  the  abbot  had  lent  a  horse  to  Nicholas  Tempest  of 
Brashall.  But  Tempest's  own  account  of  this  is  very  dif- 
ferent. He  says  that  he  went  to  the  abbey  "  with  three 
or  four  hundred  men,"  and,  "  being  kept  out  about  two 
hours,  were  at  last  let  in,  for  fear  of  burning  their  barns 
and  houses.     And  there  he  [Tempest]  swore  the  abbot 

[375] 


THE    GREATER   ABBEYS 

and  about  eight  of  his  religious  according  to  Aske's  oath." 
So  that  we  have  it  in  evidence  that  even  the  oath  of  the 
"  Pilgrims  "  was  extorted  from  the  monks  by  threats  of 
violence.  The  only  other  matter  which  appears  against 
Whalley  in  the  documents  of  the  trial  is  that  the  Lord 
Darcy  had  had  some  communication  with  the  abbey. 
"  Mem.orandum,"  it  is  noted,  "  also  Lord  Darcy  this  Lent 
past  sent  a  copy  of  a  letter,  which  my  Lord  of  Norfolk 
wrote  to  him,  unto  the  prior  of  Whalley,  who  is  now  at- 
tainted of  high  treason,  whereby  it  appeareth  that  the 
Lord  Darcy  favoured  the  said  prior,  being  a  traitor." 

According  to  the  available  evidence,  therefore,  the  part 
taken  by  Whalley  in  the  rising  of  the  north  was  very 
slight.  There  is  nothing  at  all  which  could  be  construed 
into  any  active  co-operation  with  the  insurgents.  Still,  it 
appears  that  Abbot  Paslew  was  tried  at  Lancaster,  prob- 
ably by  martial  law,  together  with  two  of  his  monks,  John 
Eastgate  and  William  Haydock,  and  the  Abbot  of  Sawley. 
All  were  condemned;  the  latter,  William  Trafiford,  was 
hanged  at  Lancaster  on  March  lo,  1537.  The  Abbot  of 
Whalley  with  one  of  his  monks,  Eastgate,  suffered  the 
same  fate  two  days  later  at  Whalley;  the  other  member 
of  the  community  one  day  later  still,  on  March  13,  in  a 
field  some  miles  from  his  monastery,  and  there  his  body 
was  left  hanging  for  some  time.  The  executed  monks 
were  probably  still  swinging  before  their  monastery  when 
the  Abbot  of  Furness  was  summoned  to  Whalley  to  make 
up  his  mind  whether  he  would  surrender  his  abbey  or  no. 
The  ghastly  sight  of  his  brethren  dangling  from  the  gib- 

[376] 


WHALLEY 

bets  may  be  taken  to  have  assisted  him  in  determining  to 
do  the  King's  will  at  once. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  attainder  and  execution  of  the  Abbot 
of  Whalley,  a  novel  interpretation  of  the  law  of  treason 
enabled  the  King  to  take  possession  of  the  abbey.  Burnet 
even  says  that  the  seizure  of  the  abbey  lands  "  pursuant  to 
those  attainders  was  through  a  great  stretch  of  the  law." 
Hitherto  the  attainder  of  a  bishop  or  abbot  never  had 
been  thought  to  entail  the  forfeiture  of  the  goods  of  a 
see  or  a  monastery,  and  it  was  left  to  Henry  to  place  this 
construction  on  the  law.  Writing  to  the  Earl  of  Sussex 
just  at  this  time,  the  King  lays  down  his  interpretation  of 
the  law.  He  thanks  the  earl  for  the  punishment  of  those 
who  had  offended  him,  and  specially  for  the  execution  of 
the  Abbot  of  Whalley,  as  well  as  for  having  "  taken  order 
for  the  good  direction  of  the  house  and  the  safe  keeping 
of  the  goods  without  embezzlement  " ;  as  the  house  "  hath 
been  so  sore  corrupt  amongst  others,"  "  it  shall  be  meet 
that  some  order  be  taken  for  the  remotion  of  the  monks 
now  being  in  the  same,  and  that  [it  is  proper]  we  should 
take  the  whole  house  into  our  hands;  as  by  our  laws  we 
be  justly,  by  the  attainder  of  the  said  late  abbot,  entitled 
unto  it;  and  so  devise  for  such  a  new  establishment  thereof 
as  shall  be  thought  meet  for  the  honour  of  God,  our  surety 
and  the  benefit  of  the  country." 

Sussex  is  consequently  charged  to  use  all  dexterity  in 
accusing  the  monks  of  grievous  offences  "  towards  us  and 
our  commonwealth  "  and  then  to  try  and  get  them  to  go  to 
other  religious  houses  of  the  Order  or  to  "  receive  secular 


THE   GREATER   ABBEYS 

habit."  It  is  unnecessary  to  speculate  as  to  whether 
Henry  had  any  serious  designs  of  re-establishing  Whalley 
Abbey.  If  he  had,  his  design  quickly  passed  away,  for 
by  Michaelmas,  1537,  one  John  Kechin  had  been  ap- 
pointed receiver  at  Whalley,  and  had  already  been  at 
work  to  some  efifect.  He  had  sold  goods  and  got  in  rents 
to  the  value  of  £957  i  is.  7d.,  had  already  sent  up  to  Brian 
Tuke,  the  King's  treasurer,  some  £491  is.  lod.,  and  had 
paid  away  £100  for  the  carriage  of  the  bullion  to  London. 
At  Whalley,  as  apparently  in  the  case  of  all  other  mo- 
nasteries, the  superiors  of  which  had  been  attainted,  none 
of  the  monks  received  any  pension  on  being  turned  out  of 
their  old  home  to  find  their  way  in  the  world  as  best  they 
might. 


THE  END 


[378] 


iv^ 


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